Government Technology: St. Paul, Minn., Cyber Attack Extends Into Another Day

Government Technology featured insights from Nabil Hannan, NetSPI Field CISO, about a cyberattack on St. Paul, Minnesota’s digital infrastructure.

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The state of emergency continued Wednesday in St. Paul after officials shut down the city’s digital infrastructure and worked to stop the spread of a cyber attack that began Friday.

(TNS) — A state of emergency continued Wednesday in St. Paul after officials shut down the city’s digital infrastructure and worked to the stop the spread of a cyberattack that began Friday.

Computers at city libraries and rec centers were not connected to the internet, and there was no Wi-Fi at City Hall. Online payment systems that handle water and sewer bills also weren’t functional. St. Paul’s 911 and other emergency response systems were still working, Mayor Melvin Carter said, but many other city systems remained shut down in an attempt to contain the attack.

Cyberattacks on both the public and private sector are increasingly frequent, and local governments can be prime targets, said Nabil Hannan, field chief information security officer for the Minneapolis-based security firm NetSPI.

“It’s pretty well-known that these agencies don’t get enough investment to get the proper type of robust defenses,” Hannan said. “Attackers are very opportunistic, and they try to find the simplest way forward.”

Often, he said, that means probing for weaknesses in government networks.

You can read the full article here.