New Orleans mayor declares state of emergency in wake of city cyberattack

CNN ^ | December 13, 2019 | Amir Vera,

[BenLurkin]

Phishing attempts and suspicious activity were detected on the city's network around 5 a.m., New Orleans chief information officer Kim LaGrue said during a press conference. By 11 a.m., technician investigators detected "a cybersecurity incident" and the city's information technology department began powering down servers and city computers as a precaution, the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness said in a series of tweets.

While ransomware was detected, no ransom has been demanded in the cyberattack, Cantrell said.

[Secret Agent Man]

It wasn’t “password”

it was “guest”

[fireman15]

Sorry, but I'll hold to this because this is still the predominant point of access in these cases.

Your evidence for this is likely to be outdated. I have had issues with malware over the years, personally and with family and friends. It used to be possible to determine the probable source in most cases, but not so much these days. For a time I did use internet access almost exclusive!y on virtual machines, but in this age of “cloud storage” etc. it is nearly a pointless exercise.

I posted an article on this a month or two ago after my new laptop started overheating when it was in “sleep mode”. It had picked up “crypto-mining” malware. I was the only one who had used it. I still have no idea where it came from and how it got past my defenses.

[paulcissa]

Without any specific knowledge, I’ll wager that a lower-level city associate (employee or contractor) with too much access to the system, opened a link to permit the attack. What is needed is a sandbox scheme that can isolate such attacks. The rewards to the criminals who are almost always offshore are too high to stop these attacks. All it takes is a single weak link!

The human will always be the single weakest link. The report states a broad-spectrum phishing attack. Stupid human tricks.

[Larry Lucido]

They should have made it hard.

guest1

[Larry Lucido]

Probably got an email “This is the official office of the mayer and not a scam. Please to log in with your real password and update all your data. Thank you.”

[VanShuyten]

“After all this time it is hard to see why/how ANY government computer systems are vulnerable.
It’s not like they don’t have the money to get things right! “

Hiring your cousin, Bubba, or the Awan family as your IT guys can be pricey.

[blam]

"You actually expect competence from guberment personal?"

Really.

43% of the residents of New Orleans cannot read or write.

[palmer]

They could fire all the stupid people, but there’d be nobody left.

[palmer]

Defenses? I turn off updates and remove all "defenses" from any computer I own. 100% of attacks come through malware included with the machine (e.g. flash) user-installed malware (anything else from Adobe and many other careless or malicious vendors) and simple malware sharing like clicking on any link that anyone sends.

The notion that attacks are somehow sophisticated remote access vulnerabilities is what is outdated. Yes, some malware is technically remote access vulnerabilities but that is nearly always crapware, not the base OS.

[abbastanza]

Easy fix. Just unplug from the wall and reboot. New Orleans doesn’t have anything anyone would want anyway.

[scrabblehack]

What, no tax and property records? My city and county have those online....presumably there are backups.

[SWAMP-C1PHER]

As someone that knows members of, and has worked with Orleans Parish IT; they are a sterling amalgam of low IQ affirmative action appointees, and room temperature fuckwits.

The fact that this happened should surprise no one.

[fireman15]

The notion that attacks are somehow sophisticated remote access vulnerabilities is what is outdated.

I am glad that you feel secure. You are putting words in my mouth. The newest generation of malware is incredibly “sophisticated”. Underestimating your system's vulnerability and malware’s ability to infiltrate your system is extremely naïve and foolish.