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Riviera Beach computer shut down due to hacking; fix may cost $1 million
From: Destry Winant <destry () riskbasedsecurity com>
Date: Wed, 5 Jun 2019 07:48:10 -0500
https://www.wpbf.com/article/riviera-beach-computer-shut-down-due-to-hacking-fix-may-cost-dollar1-million/27706400 During a special meeting called to address the city's complete computer shutdown, interim Information Technology Manager Justin Williams delivered the continuing bad news. "As of right now, everything is down," Williams said, confirming that the problem is lasting longer than city officials predicted last week when the problem began early May 29. All of the city's email and every department's computer system have been paralyzed since last Wednesday after what is just now being revealed as some type of hacking event. "An email got in. Someone clicked on an email. There was an intrusion. As soon as we became aware of it, we went and locked everything down," said Williams in answer to a councilman's question. Williams said the intrusion was so bad they could not risk turning any of the city's computers back on for fear of the virus spreading further. He also told the council it will take up to $1 million to buy new hardware and harden the system against future hacking, and that most of the city's computers are so old they are not worth salvaging. City Council members said they had reservations about approving spending when they did not have an itemized list of what was needed and due to the computer outage, couldn't receive emails containing information about the problem. Several suggested approving just enough money to get the critical systems back up, in the police and public safety divisions. The interim police chief said that while, 911 is working, the department's computers are not and the Riviera Beach Police Department staff are taking almost 300 reports a day by hand. "So every call that comes in gets written on paper," said Chief Michael Madden. He also said that, without its computer system, the Police Department can't check if a call is coming from a dangerous location, or verify criminals' histories and other critical information. "So there is an elevated risk," said Madden. Several residents demanded to know why the city doesn't have a cybersecurity policy already in place. "This is devastation here, we can't operate, you can't operate. Where is that security cyber policy?" said Mary Bram. The city is still dealing with water intrusion in several buildings and ongoing mold problems. Interim Fire Chief John Curd said evacuated firefighters are back in the Singer Island station after tests showed unidentifiable particulates in the air there. But the Riviera Beach Fire Department is still awaiting tests on Station 2, where the results of blood tests done on the firefighters who work there showed high levels of mold exposure for a majority of the firefighters, according to the union president. The council said it would discuss the computer shutdown again at the regular meeting Wednesday night. _______________________________________________ BreachExchange mailing list sponsored by Risk Based Security BreachExchange () lists riskbasedsecurity com If you wish to Edit your membership or Unsubscribe you can do so at the following link: https://lists.riskbasedsecurity.com/listinfo/breachexchange
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- Riviera Beach computer shut down due to hacking; fix may cost $1 million Destry Winant (Jun 06)