Cybersecurity experts stated that everyday hackers are attempting over a thousand of time to violate US state government's computer systems. Reports reveal that this week many servers were targeted by the cybercriminals. The digital officials stated that day by day these hackers are becoming more sophisticated.
As per the Bangor Daily News, Fred Brittain, the Chief Information Officer for the State of Maine said that even though the numbers may be large, the main concern is the sophistication behind some of these cyber attacks that the state government is facing these days.
Brittain who was appointed as the CIO for the state in April 2019 said that this US state is facing a continuous threat from the hackers who are desperately looking to breach the computer networks. He also mentioned that these cybercriminals are often connected to sophisticated international efforts which are spending millions of dollar in such cyber campaigns.
In addition, Brittain stated that at this time there are many people who believe that hackers are those people who operate such digital campaign from "their parents' basement, you know, eating Cheetos and trying to steal a social security number," but in reality, the current scenario is different.
Recently several state computers and servers, including the state's election office were hit by a malicious virus on Wednesday, September 25, said Maine secretary of state's office.
Even 22 cities and local governments in Texas, were attacked by ransomware malware and a mayor of Texas municipality said that the hackers who infiltrated the computer systems have asked for $2.5 million as ransom.
Earlier two ransomware attacks had paralysed Harrison County Courthouse and Florida city council as well as Baltimore City.
It should be mentioned that in the past few years the cyberattacks, especially the ransomware attacks have increased in the US particularly targeting the government networks.
Cybersecurity experts believe that since the favourable payment structure has changed into bitcoins, such attacks are actually responsible for the fluctuation in the valuation of the cryptocurrency.
