Tag Archive for: town

Cybersecurity expert opens Tulsa Town Hall


Everything, according to cybersecurity expert Theresa Payton, can be hacked.

“Well,” she said, “except for VHS tapes.”

But with the determination of those wishing to inflict financial and psychological harm upon others via the internet, and the ease with which the tools to inflict that damage can be obtained, Payton joked that probably not even such antiquated technology as videocassette tapes are beyond the reach of hackers.

Payton spoke Friday at the Tulsa PAC to open the 2022-2023 season of Tulsa Town Hall, to discuss “Securing the Future: Unmasking Cybercriminals & the Triple Threat Facing Business and You.”

Payton served as chief information officer at the White House during the George W. Bush administration, the first woman to hold the position. She is the founder of Fortalice Solutions, one of the nation’s leading cybersecurity firms.

People are also reading…

She also starred in the reality series “Hunted” and is the author of “Manipulated: Inside the Cyberwar to Hijack Elections and Distort the Truth.”

Payton said the No. 1 cybercrime is not identity theft but business email compromise, where criminals often use freely available programs to track the internet activity of a given target, usually the CEO of a major company.

Once the hackers have gathered all the information they can find — including travel itineraries, possible passwords, even recordings of the person’s voice that can be manipulated to create certain phrases — they use it to initiate wire transfers of large sums of money.

And because everything can be hacked, Payton predicts that before 2023 is out, someone will attempt — and maybe succeed — in hacking into some of the low Earth orbit satellites now in operation, from the International Space Station to the commercial objects that provide everything from GPS information to cellular phone service to worldwide online shopping.

Payton outlined other potential…

Source…

A small Canadian town is being extorted by a global ransomware gang


The Canadian town of St. Marys, Ontario, has been hit by a ransomware attack that has locked staff out of internal systems and encrypted data.

The small town of around 7,500 residents seems to be the latest target of the notorious LockBit ransomware group. On July 22nd, a post on LockBit’s dark web site listed townofstmarys.com as a victim of the ransomware and previewed files that had been stolen and encrypted.

Screenshot taken from a ransomware group’s website. Text reads: “The Town of St. Marys is located at the junction of the Thames River and Trout Creek, southwest of Stratford in southwestern Ontario. Rich in natural resources, namely the Thames River, the land that now makes up St. Marys was traditionally used as hunting grounds by First Nations peoples. European settlers arrived in the early 1840s. Stolen data (67GB): financial documents, plans, department, confidential data”

LockBit ransom listing for the Town of St. Marys

In a phone call, St. Marys Mayor Al Strathdee told The Verge that the town was responding to the attack with the help of a team of experts.

“To be honest, we’re in somewhat of a state of shock,” Strathdee said. “It’s not a good feeling to be targeted, but the experts we’ve hired have identified what the threat is and are walking us through how to respond. Police are interested and have dedicated resources to the case … there are people here working on it 24/7.”

Strathdee said that after systems were locked, the town had received a ransom demand from the LockBit ransomware gang but had not paid anything to date. In general, the Canadian government’s cybersecurity guidance discouraged the paying of ransoms, Strathdee said, but the town would follow the incident team’s advice on how to engage further.

Screenshots shared on the LockBit site show the file structure of a Windows operating system, containing directories corresponding to municipal operations like finance, health and safety, sewage treatment, property files, and public works. Per LockBit’s standard operating methods, the town was given a deadline by which to pay to have their systems unlocked or else see the data published online.

Brett O’Reilly, communications manager for the town of St. Marys, directed The Verge to a press statement issued by St. Marys in which the town gave further details. Per the statement, essential municipal services like transit and water systems have been unaffected by the incident, and the town is attempting to unlock IT systems and restore backup data.

According to an analysis by Recorded…

Source…

Town of St. Marys hit with ransomware cyber attack


The Town of St. Marys was hit by a cyber attack this week, locking the municipality’s internal server and encrypting its data.

Article content

The Town of St. Marys is working to restore its crippled computer systems after a ransomware attack locked the municipality’s internal server and encrypted its data.

Article content

Town staff are now working with cyber incident-response experts to pinpoint the source of the breach, restore the municipality’s back-up data and assess the impacts of the Wednesday attack, officials said in a news release.

“We’ve hired a large security firm that is familiar with the type of cyber incident we are experiencing and is guiding us through what to do,” St. Marys Mayor Al Strathdee told the Beacon Herald Friday afternoon. “Police are also very interested in this matter and have dedicated resources to it, and we are getting legal counsel as well, so we have people working 24-7 on this.”

In the moments after learning of the breach, town staff took immediate steps to secure sensitive information by shutting down IT systems and restricting access to email, officials said. Stratford police were contacted, as well as the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the town’s lawyers.

Since police and cyber-security experts are actively investigating the breach, Strathdee said he couldn’t speak about all of the details of the attack and the ensuing investigation but confirmed the town did receive a message from the alleged hackers asking for a ransom to be paid.

“It is a ransomware attack. I can tell you that, and there was a recorded message that we have not responded to,” Strathdee said without offering specifics about message details or the amount of money demanded.

Critical municipal services like fire, police, transit and water were not affected by the breach and were operating normally, officials said. Town staff members were still able to perform their regular duties and were available by phone, email or in person at town facilities.

Article content

“We’re not back to business as usual,…

Source…

Old Town Residents Share Safety Concerns After ‘Unpermitted’ Gathering at North Ave. Beach – NBC Chicago


One day after a large event occurred at North Avenue Beach and exiting partygoers caused disturbances in surrounding neighborhoods, residents convened to discuss concerns about the recent incident and other ongoing issues.

Wednesday’s “unpermitted” gathering on the North Side attracted more than 400 people to the lakeshore, mostly teens and young adults, according to 43 Ward Ald. Michelle Smith’s office.

On Thursday, residents made their way into a previously scheduled crime meeting in Old Town where they brought up the recent chaos, but also expressed worries about even more potential problems as the weather gets warmer.

“We’re in the beginning of summer, this is going to be happening more and more,” said resident Joe Jacobazzi. “…Want to hear what their plan is going forward in the future and how these things are going to be addressed.”

The same night as the mayhem at North Avenue Beach, police observed gatherings at local gas stations and businesses in Old Town and Lincoln Park.

“It’s just crazy chaotic, I was shocked,” said one gas station clerk. “That’s about it. I was shocked. Scared, not really, just very much shocked.”

Smith, the local alderperson, reassured residents that police had a plan in place and she was satisfied with the response and thankful no one was hurt.

“This was an event that could have gone wrong, and our police didn’t let it go wrong,” Smith said. “I’m so grateful for what happened.”

However, videos posted to social media showed a crowd that appeared to be out of control.

“I saw the disturbance last night, and it just seemed like the police, as usual, are just reactive and not proactive,” Jacobazzi said.

Authorities learned of the event in advance, and placed additional officers at entrance points to the beach, allowing them to search attendees for alcohol and drugs, Smith said.

Even still, attendees climbed on lifeguard towers and CTA buses, and police moved to break up the event in the late evening hours.

Source…