Emergency services a likely target for cyberattacks, warns DHS <B>[April 2024]

ABC ^ | April 17, 2024, | osh Margolin and Sasha Pezenik

[BenLurkin]

Calling 911 is meant to save lives. But the emergency service, and others like it, are also viewed as ripe targets for criminally minded cyber-attackers, according to a new federal assessment – and any vulnerability in those critical networks can expose victims to a multitude of dangerous ripple effects.

The analysis, compiled by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and obtained by ABC News, outlines concerns that the Emergency Service Sector can be exploited and mined for sensitive data, in turn hampering medical and law enforcement services and posing an ongoing threat to personal information and public safety.

"Cybercriminal exploitation of data stolen during ransomware attacks against the Emergency Service Sector (ESS) likely poses a persistent criminal threat due to the exposure and availability of victims’ personal information," according to the April 10 bulletin.

Ransomware attacks have “disrupted the networks of police department and 911 call center operations,” the bulletin continued, putting computer-aided dispatching services out of commission and forcing emergency services “to revert to manual dispatching to sustain their operations.”

[Seaplaner]

Interesting, thanks BL.

I'm a thinkin' that this might be a good time to back up my computer...just in case.

(I do it fairly frequently, anyhoo.)

[stanne]

They can try fear mongering all day but Americans are screwing things up w no help from our foes just fine

file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/77/07/45BDF360-629B-4933-B2F9-A5F3A2E11B58/IMG_3947.jpeg

[dayglored]

Your URL ("file:///var/mobile/Library...") is local to your computer -- the rest of us on the internet can't get at it even if your computer is a webserver.

And you've outted yourself as an Apple device user, based on that file path (I'm guessing, of course, but I'm another one, and /var says POSIX and capitalized Library suggests iOS or macOS).