Kansas Town Hit by Cyberattack: Key Services Disrupted
Hey Mck’s In a recent incident, the small town of Pittsburg, Kansas, found itself dealing with a cyberattack that messed up essential government functions. This happened over the weekend, and it messed with the town’s email, phone, and online payment systems. The good news is that 911 and other important stuff kept running despite the mess.
City Manager Daron Hall recognized the seriousness of the situation, saying, “These things happen way too often across the country, but we get how big a deal this is, and we’re moving fast to sort it out. It’s going to take a few weeks to figure it all out, but we’re still here to serve our community as best we can.”
To deal with the cyber threat, Pittsburg’s incident response team acted quickly to protect the city’s data and networks. They also brought in experts to figure out the whole picture of what went down. Even though the attack happened, city operations and public safety services are still up and running. They haven’t said whether they’re going to pay any ransom or if this was even a ransomware attack. So far, nobody’s claimed responsibility for messing with Pittsburg. But, similar cyber incidents have hit other places in the U.S. recently. For instance, Hinds County, Mississippi, had to deal with a ransomware attack that messed up government services, making it tough for people to buy or sell homes because they couldn’t access county records.
The situation in Hinds County has raised eyebrows because the county folks haven’t given many details, and Mississippi’s Department of Public Safety isn’t talking either. They’re leaving it to the FBI to handle things. Hinds County includes Jackson, the state’s capital, and more than 240,000 folks live there. Just a bit away from Pittsburg, St. Louis County had its own cyberattack headache. Their Regional Justice Information System (REJIS), also used by other counties, got hit. This caused chaos, affecting cops, jails, courts, and lawyers. They even had to go old school with paper records for jail stuff, and court cases got canceled for days.
County Executive Sam Page said it’s serious business, and they need $5 million from their emergency fund to beef up cybersecurity. He’s stressing that it’s cheaper to prevent these attacks than deal with the fallout. These stories highlight the growing danger of ransomware attacks, hitting both businesses and government bodies. The Department of Homeland Security warns that these ransomware gangs are on track to make nearly a billion dollars in ransom payments in 2023. It’s a clear signal that we need to take cybersecurity seriously to protect our critical systems and services.