City of Austin claims to be targeted by cyberattacks
AUSTIN, Texas - Cyber hacks across the US are now being reported in Austin.
FOX 7 Austin spoke with cybersecurity expert and chief information security officer with Prescient Alexander White on the recent cyber attacks that have been plaguing the nation.
"There’s been a lot of information that’s been released currently but for the most part it’s still too early to know," said White. "Gone are the days we were thinking of hackers as hobbyists sitting in their parents' basement. This is clearly a special operations style attack where they had a whole plan and they’ve been monitoring for quite some time very detailed deliberate diligent attacks. In my professional opinion, this is a nation-state attack."
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On Thursday the city of Austin confirmed they to have been targeted by these hacks a spokesperson releasing this statement:
"Austin is one of a number of municipalities working with federal authorities as part of this investigation. The City has not had a loss of personal information and our critical systems have not been affected. These types of hacking attempts are increasing nationally. We continue to work with our partners, including federal law enforcement, to monitor the situation and enhance our security measures to adapt to these types of activities."
Right now White said it’s still too early to tell what exactly was breached if anything but it’s never too late to be proactive.
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"I asked Austinites do you know what third-party application you share data with. Check all the configuration settings not just for your computer because that’s typically where everyone starts and stops but your mobile devices and any other device you have that connect to an external network like your wireless router," said White.
For companies, White said those who use a third-party security firm should really keep an eye on things like their data during this time.
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"If you don’t have visibility on what actions are being performed on your behalf or what security alerts are being monitored on your behalf then I would say you’re just as compromised as some of the companies that will come out in the list within the next couple days," said White.