HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.29.20 Cyber attacks
From:Pickett, Andy
To:Alpert, Bruce;Bennett, Robin;Clerk of the Board;Connelly, Bill;Cook, Holly;Lambert, Steve;Lucero, Debra;
McCracken, Shari;Paulsen, Shaina;Pickett, Andy;Ring, Brian;Ritter, Tami;Rodas, Amalia;Sweeney, Kathleen;
Teeter, Doug
Subject:Cyber attacks
Date:Thursday, October 29, 2020 7:28:30 PM
Board Members,
The FBI, in conjunction with CAL OES have contacted all emergency managers across the state to
warn of a cyber security threat. These attacks have been focused on hospitals, but the FBI believes
the attacks will progress to include all government systems and critical infrastructure.
The attacks begin as a phishing email, and if the end user falls for the campaign, the attackers place
ransomware on the system, the backups, and encrypted servers. The attacks mutate with each
iteration, making them difficult to spot. The FBI noted that recovery from this attack could take an
organization weeks to months to fully recover.
We are working with our partners in healthcare, governments, and critical infrastructure to put them
on notice to tighten security, and also to forge a path to provide them methods of protection as
soon as we receive them from CAL OES and the FBI. We at the County have hardened our own
systems, ran a current backup and are keeping it offsite.
Meanwhile, each of you should be hyper vigilant of any email that looks or feels off, or that requests
any sort of unusual information. Keep in mind these are sophisticated attacks, and the phishing
scheme can be expected to be very convincing.
Andy