CyberSecurity in the News

Project Description: 

For this project I had to look on the search engine Google News to find two articles that discussed at least one of the many topics we have discussed through Unit 4 as well as evaluate these sources and their accuracy. 

Cybersecurity in the news articles: 

Nevada ransomware attack started months before it was discovered, per report (Yes this is an embedded link :D)

This article is about how in Nevada, in 2025, there was a ransomware attack that caused residents to be unable to receive their driver's license and were unable to process background checks for new employees for nearly a month. It was recently made known that thought it was not discovered until August, the attack began in May, MAY!!! I'm sure you're wondering how these hackers were able to gain access to the software, I was too. You're probably thinking it was a hard multistep process that would take months. Nope. All that it took for these hackers to gain access was for a state employee to mistakenly download malicious software, one simple mistake cost the state over 1.5 MILLION dollars. The article also goes into other more dated ransomware attack from other states like Georgia and Rhode Island. We can prevent ourselves from being the one to cause a ransomware attack like this by being aware of what we're clicking on and downloading and verify the source first. 

Source Evaluation:

• Who published this content? The Associate Press

• Where was it Published? Newsday.com 

• When was it published? November 5th, 2025 8:44pm

• The truthfullness and integrity of the facts: Considered accurate, provided information from state reports and accurate data, minimal grammar/spelling mistakes, some quotes

• How is it written and presented? Too many ads, contained facts and data

• Read this article by clicking here!: Nevada ransomware attack started months before it was discovered, per report - Newsday 

Philadelphia warns residents of phishing text scam targeting bank info (Also a link :D)

Residents of Philadelphia were receiving a text message claiming to be from an agent from the Philadelphia Department of Revenue telling residents to click on a link and would there ask them to provide personal information. The Department of Revenue made a statement of how this is a phishing scam with malicious intent. They also said they have never and would never request information via text message. The article also provides an FBI hotline number and the website to the FBI tips for those who think they have fallen victim. We can prevent ourselves from falling victim to these types of scams by not clicking on any links and call/reach out to an actual verified source for the people who are supposedly reaching out just to be sure it is true. 

Source Evaluation:

• Who published this content? Brandon Birghtman

• Where was it published? Nbcphiladelphia.com 

• When was it published? September 16th, 2025, at 4:53pm

• The truthfulness and integrity of the facts: Considered accurate, verified source, direct statement from the Philadelphia Department of Revenue

• How is it written and presented? Too many ads, video from news broadcast was embedded but information was also written transcript style. 

• Read this article by clicking here!: Philadelphia agency warns residents of phishing text scam – NBC10 Philadelphia 

Lesson Learned:

I do not watch the news or read it, I get most of my information from tiktok. So, it was interesting to see all of the hundreds of thousands of articles of so many different topics. All having different titles, some sounding like clickbait, but also some being accurate good information!