In the wake of an alleged cyber attack on the Maricopa County Elections Department and recent reports of a potential cyber attack against banks and online financial transaction, Mohave County is warning residents to protect their online security.
In July, Chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors Buster Johnson became vice chair of the National Association of Counties (NACo) Cyber Security Task Force, which is a public/private partnership to share information and early warnings on cyber security threats.
Mohave County Information Technology (IT) Director Nathan McDaniel is directly involved in working with the Task Force and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC).
According to an article in the Arizona Capitol Times, “In the days following the (General) election, the Maricopa County Elections Department endured harassment, vandalism and a possible cyber attack – all while the office was trying to count a record number of votes left over from Election Day.”
The efforts that led to the alleged cyber attack were from a political advocacy group that denies they planned to “take down the email system,” the article stated.
In a related matter, news articles are reporting on a possible, impending mass cyber attack on U.S. banks. The Trojan virus, labeled Project Blitzkrieg, may be able to infect victims’ computers allowing the theft of money and information. Although this virus hasn’t surfaced to date, it is being called a “credible threat.”
“All the more we have to be on guard and protect ourselves, our agencies and our services,” Johnson said. “We (America) have many enemies abroad and lurking within our own backyard with a vested interest in infecting and destroying governmental computer systems while stealing private citizens’ information and money.”
“We receive information daily on possible threats to our systems,” McDaniel said. In the case of the Blitzkrieg threat, “we are checking all of our computers to see if any of them have been compromised through contact with suspect websites. It is a full-time job keeping up with the technology to keep strong firewalls against these virus attacks.”
McDaniel recommends home PC users continue to check the online resources available to counteract cyber-terrorists, such as the MS-ISAC website: http://msisac.cisecurity.org/resources/toolkit/oct12/index.cfm