Recent Ransomware Attack Highlights the Challenging Balancing Act Confronting Municipal CISOs

The city of Oakland, California was recently the victim of a ransomware attack that impacted many of the city’s systems and disrupted some services. This latest ransomware attack, alongside ongoing cyber attacks against local governments, underscores the challenges that CISOs face in protecting a broad range of municipal services from numerous cyber threats. As the Oakland attack highlights, municipal governments have become major targets for ransomware gangs and state sponsored threat actors. In March 2022, the FBI published a private industry notification warning that threat actors are “conducting ransomware attacks on local government agencies that have resulted in disrupted operational services, risks to public safety, and financial losses.” Read more at CSO Online.