Cyberattack that crippled Nevada's systems reveals vulnerability of smaller agencies

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Nevada cyberattack cripples nationalist services

Nevada cyberattack cripples nationalist services crossed state 02:16

Las Vegas — Nevada officials revealed Wednesday that idiosyncratic accusation whitethorn person been compromised successful what was described arsenic a "sophisticated ransomware-based cybersecurity attack" that occurred Sunday successful which hackers infiltrated authorities networkers and disrupted indispensable services statewide.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo had initially said Monday determination were nary signs idiosyncratic information was stolen. However, successful a quality league Wednesday, Tim Galluzi, Nevada's authorities main accusation officer, indicated that idiosyncratic accusation whitethorn person been taken. 

"I indispensable disclose that our ongoing forensic probe has recovered grounds that indicates immoderate information has been exfiltrated, oregon moved extracurricular the authorities network, by the malicious actors," Galluzi told reporters. "...At this signifier we cannot yet place oregon classify the circumstantial quality of this data." 

Several authorities services were brought to a standstill by the cyberattack. Many radical showed up astatine DMV offices crossed the authorities for their appointments this week lone to larn the bureau is closed. State DMV offices were inactive closed arsenic of Wednesday.

"We privation to punctual our citizens that this statewide outage is impacting astir each authorities agency's operations, and connectivity to interaction information and the wellness and quality services fields needs to instrumentality precedence implicit DMV services," Tonya Laney, manager of the Nevada DMV, said astatine the quality conference. 

The outage besides prevented instrumentality enforcement from accessing authorities DMV records. For a bully portion of Sunday, the dispatch telephone lines for Nevada State Police were down. Emergency and indispensable operations, specified arsenic 911 services, were inactive available.  

Lombardo had announced Monday that each authorities offices were closed to in-person services until further notice. The breach impacted authorities systems only, Lombardo said. The onslaught is nether investigation.

Galluzi said "bringing systems backmost online is simply a meticulous process" and they "must guarantee that menace has been afloat eradicated earlier we reconnect them."

Cybersecurity experts, meanwhile, accidental section governments are premier targets for cyberattacks.

"Now they're hitting government, similar the small, not large federal, but authorities and section community," Greg Moody, prof of accusation systems astatine the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told CBS News. "And truthful that's been the inclination for the past 12 to 18 months." 

An analysis from the bundle institution Comparitech counts 525 ransomware attacks connected U.S. authorities entities since 2018, with an estimated $1.09 cardinal mislaid to downtime arsenic a effect of those attacks.

Last month, a cyberattack successful St. Paul, Minnesota, forced the metropolis to unopen parts of its network. Public WiFi and immoderate room services went offline. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz activated the National Guard's cyber portion to assistance reconstruct systems.

Last year, Fulton County, Georgia, location to Atlanta, spent weeks restoring courts and phones aft a ransomware strike. The region refused to pay.

And successful the autumn of 2023, an Iran-linked radical breached a portion of machine exertion successful Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, that monitors h2o pressure. There was nary contamination, but it served arsenic a informing changeable to captious infrastructure.

"The astir apt lessons learned should beryllium scope retired to your different authorities counterparts and stock accusation truthful different states, different cities, tin larn from it and conscionable enactment their defenses up successful advance," Moody said. "So the aforesaid onslaught doesn't enactment against them." 

Andres Gutierrez

Andres Gutierrez is simply a CBS News newsman based successful Las Vegas. Most precocious a newsman with CBS News Detroit, Andres brings much than a decennary of award-winning breaking quality reporting and fill-in anchor acquisition crossed respective markets including Kansas City, Missouri and Dallas, Texas. While covering Detroit, helium reported connected large nationalist stories, including the wide shooting astatine Michigan State University, and the historical six-week onslaught by the United Auto Workers. Gutierrez besides played a large relation successful CBS News and Stations' in-depth sum crossed platforms of the trials of James and Jennifer Crumbley - the archetypal parents successful the U.S. to beryllium held criminally liable for a schoolhouse shooting committed by their child. Gutierrez graduated from New York University and is simply a subordinate of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

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