32.Lock Code Circular

Garfield County, Utah, was recently affected by ransomware. Local government is an increasingly attractive target for criminals because of its high dependence on information technology, and generally poor security. Elected officials are under constant pressure to spend available funds on something visible and appealing to the electorate rather than unseen technology.

Little is known about the Garfield attack. In brief, it appears that an employee clicked a phishing link that gave the criminals access. Having gained access, the ransomware apparently encrypted enough systems to require County officials to switch to paper administration; although it is reported that the courts, elections and sheriff's office were not affected.

The link for this article located at SecurityWeek is no longer available.