Uptick in cyber attacks targeting local government agencies

The show turned to Peter Kobak, associate director of Ohio Persistent Cyber Improvement at the University of Cincinnati’s Ohio Cyber Range Institute for insight on what could be driving the attacks. 

“The pressure can be immense when you’re facing the possibility that your core services are being disrupted by an attack,” Kobak told Cincinnati Edition. “This can happen as often as daily in Ohio and across the country. It impacts the smallest local governments to the largest ones.” 

Kobak supports a program at the Ohio Cyber Range Institute called Ohio Persistent Cyber Improvement, which provides free cybersecurity training to local governments in Ohio. Over 20,000 of Ohio's public employees have been served the innovative training that is tailored to leadership, technical staff and general employees.

He explained to WLWT that international organized crime is often the culprit behind these types of ransomware attacks. “Sometimes it’s to simply raise funds,” he said. “But we’ve seen how our adversaries abroad also skirt sanctions and other international regulations and restrictions by going after funds that are held by American taxpayers and by their local governments.

“You can be better prepared in that situation by taking certain steps to back up and have copies of your systems so that rebuilding isn’t necessarily from square one, but that you’re actually prepared to rebuild in a case like this,” Kobak added. 

Listen to the full conversation on WVXU.

Featured image at top of a digital interpretation of data behind secured behind a lock. Photo/Adobe Stock