Atlanta city government systems down due to ransomware attack

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/03/atlanta-city-government-systems-down-due-to-ransomware-attack/

by el_duderino • 8 years ago

67 21 8 years ago

Based on the screenshot, one security expert WXIA showed it to said that it resembled the message from a variant of Samsam, a family of ransomware that struck a number of hospitals two years ago.

Could this be one of those that exploited a Java de-serialization vulnerability in Java-based application servers a couple of ago as the excerpt says?

Java is an absolute buggy bag full of vulnerabilities, can't believe people/organizations still run this shit.

cremp• 8 years ago

As opposed to Node.js and use npm? I can't believe that companies want to shoot themselves in the foot.

CaptSpify• 8 years ago

Just because node.js and npm are terrible doesn't detract from the fact that java is terrible |;)

bitmapbrother• 8 years ago

Java is an absolute buggy bag full of vulnerabilities, can't believe people/organizations still run this shit.

Are you sure you didn't mean Windows?

nartz• 8 years ago

Sigh - its extremely naive to call "java" the issue. Every language, framework, OS, kernel (and frankly, even hardware) have their vulnerabilities. These types of comments sort of grind my gears.

orf• 8 years ago

And some languages, frameworks, OS and kernels have more vulnerabilities than others. That's what parent is saying.

ulkesh• 8 years ago

You are either trolling or obviously have no clue what you are talking about. Enjoy the ignorance, I hear it's bliss!

iooi• 8 years ago

Employees received emails from the city's information technology department instructing them to unplug their computers if they noticed anything suspicious.

Ouch, that sort of communication policy seems ripe for phishing attacks.. "If you see anything suspicious, please report them here https://.."

yequalsx• 8 years ago

I wanted to click that link you have to see where it went. But I know better! It's hard sometimes to not tempt fate.

Jeff_Brown2• 8 years ago

In a lot of browsers, if you right-click you can choose "copy URL" to see what it says (and then maybe search for it online without visiting it).

campuscodi• 8 years ago

Source: http://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/cyber-attack-hits-...

Press conference: https://twitter.com/Cityofatlanta/status/976920585434423296

sneak• 8 years ago

* Atlanta city government systems down due to using outdated, insecure software.

At which point do we simply say “systems susceptible to most types of malware are unsuitable for critical work”?

delecti• 8 years ago

I'm not sure what you're suggesting. Software that is suitable for critical work today might not be tomorrow.

pennaMan2• 8 years ago

"systems susceptible to most types of malware today are unsuitable for the critical work of the day"

keep your systems up to date.

AceyMan• 8 years ago

Employees told to turn off PCs [...]

... because no Domain Admin knows how to write two PowerShell expressions, obvi. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Horrible to see this, it goes without saying, but unless they have an A-Team like at Maersk they are likely well and truly screwed.

(me: originally from the ATL burbs.)

Atlanta city government systems down due to ransomware attack

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