Cyberhackers are escalating their criminal-activities; U.S. companies and organizations have faced several within the past couple months. The Steamship Authority of Massachusetts, the largest ferry-service operator to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket was hit by a ransomware attack on 6/1/21, that hampered some operations. Colonial Pipeline, which supplies around 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel supply, suffered a ransomware attack, which crippled fuel delivery for several days in May. “Colonial transports roughly 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline & other fuels from refineries in the Gulf Coast to consumers in the mid-Atlantic & southeastern U.S, including serving major U.S. airports”, affecting prices of air-travel. Media reported that Colonial Pipeline paid $5.5 million ransom to the hackers.
JSB USA plants, our nation’s largest beef supplier, as well as pork & poultry, was hit & forced to halt production after their May cyber-hack. “China hacked NYC’s MTA in April, but failed bid to get control of its subway trains”, per Daily-Mail. In December 2020, hackers breached several U.S. govt agencies & companies. In October 2020, hackers targeted multiple state & local govt networks, stealing data. And several hospitals were threatened by cyber-terrorists.
These cyberattacks cause disruptions for millions of people & cost millions of dollars for businesses, with higher prices passed on to consumers. These ransom-groups gain access to private networks, encrypt files using software, and often steal data; they demand & extort huge sums of money from corporations to NOT publish stolen content. U.S. intel ascribes most of these actions to Russian-based criminal groups; ransomware gangs flourishing throughout Europe, present a national security crisis for America, and a major foreign policy agenda. When President Biden has his summit with Vladimir Putin on June 16, he intends to take a hard line, relaying a stern & clear warning to Putin against providing shelter to the hackers.
Russia has been a safe-haven for these cyber-terrorists, as they assist Putin’s foreign policy objectives. We need to stop respecting Russia’s sovereignty; Putin needs strong consequences, tough push-back, not weak sanctions levied. Russia has tried to interfere with our electoral systems, our manufacturing, transportation, oil & other energy grids. What is our responsibility in Cybersecurity, to secure, protect & harden our online systems, our critical infrastructure? We need regulatory requirements or controls in place, possibly even taking digital currencies offline. Check out: CISA, “Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is the nation’s risk advisor, working with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborating to build more secure & resilient infrastructure for the future.”
Trish Forsyth Voss
Jun 12 2021
Stopping Cyber-terrorists
Cyberhackers are escalating their criminal-activities; U.S. companies and organizations have faced several within the past couple months. The Steamship Authority of Massachusetts, the largest ferry-service operator to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket was hit by a ransomware attack on 6/1/21, that hampered some operations. Colonial Pipeline, which supplies around 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel supply, suffered a ransomware attack, which crippled fuel delivery for several days in May. “Colonial transports roughly 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline & other fuels from refineries in the Gulf Coast to consumers in the mid-Atlantic & southeastern U.S, including serving major U.S. airports”, affecting prices of air-travel. Media reported that Colonial Pipeline paid $5.5 million ransom to the hackers.
JSB USA plants, our nation’s largest beef supplier, as well as pork & poultry, was hit & forced to halt production after their May cyber-hack. “China hacked NYC’s MTA in April, but failed bid to get control of its subway trains”, per Daily-Mail. In December 2020, hackers breached several U.S. govt agencies & companies. In October 2020, hackers targeted multiple state & local govt networks, stealing data. And several hospitals were threatened by cyber-terrorists.
These cyberattacks cause disruptions for millions of people & cost millions of dollars for businesses, with higher prices passed on to consumers. These ransom-groups gain access to private networks, encrypt files using software, and often steal data; they demand & extort huge sums of money from corporations to NOT publish stolen content. U.S. intel ascribes most of these actions to Russian-based criminal groups; ransomware gangs flourishing throughout Europe, present a national security crisis for America, and a major foreign policy agenda. When President Biden has his summit with Vladimir Putin on June 16, he intends to take a hard line, relaying a stern & clear warning to Putin against providing shelter to the hackers.
Russia has been a safe-haven for these cyber-terrorists, as they assist Putin’s foreign policy objectives. We need to stop respecting Russia’s sovereignty; Putin needs strong consequences, tough push-back, not weak sanctions levied. Russia has tried to interfere with our electoral systems, our manufacturing, transportation, oil & other energy grids. What is our responsibility in Cybersecurity, to secure, protect & harden our online systems, our critical infrastructure? We need regulatory requirements or controls in place, possibly even taking digital currencies offline. Check out: CISA, “Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is the nation’s risk advisor, working with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborating to build more secure & resilient infrastructure for the future.”
Trish Forsyth Voss
By spiritspeak • Uncategorized 0