Cybersecurity in the News

A Maryland man was arrested for phishing an employee of the Board of Education of Seymour Connecticut. This attack allowed him to access their email, and successfully trick the town into giving him $375,000. This attack was known as phishing, a form of social engineering that involves tricking people into giving away sensitive information, or installing malware, by making them think that the attacker is some legitimate entity. Phishing can be best prevented by being more suspicious on where you click, and especially, where you input personal information. The ability to discern real, from fraudulent is the best way to prevent phishing.

Source Evaluation

Who published the content? Rob Polansky

Where was it published? WFSB

When was it published? Feb. 2, 2023 at 10:13 AM EST

The truthfulness and integrity of the facts: The article only states the facts of the case, and uses the town that was victimized as a source.

How is it written and presented?  It is written in an orderly business-like fashion, lacking grammar or spelling errors

Links and Citations The article links to the profile of it's author, although his profile is on the same website as the article. 

The Prince George's County public school system was hit by a ransomware attack, however they managed to keep control over their system and are no changing all of their passwords. Ransomware attacks are intended to lock users out of their computer systems by encrypting their files, they then demand something (usually money), in order for the victim to get back their system. These sorts of attacks are incredibly hard to avoid, but one can try by being cautious when they peruse the internet. This caution should extend to a number of factors such as downloading software, clicking links, an opening or responding to email. One should also keep upgrade their operating system and software whenever possible, and use strong passwords that you often change.

Source Evaluation

Who published the content? Nick Minock

Where was it published? WJLA-TV

When was it published? Fri, August 18th 2023, 3:20 PM EDT

The truthfulness and integrity of the facts: The article only states the facts of the case, and in fact got information on the event from direct school district sources.

How is it written and presented?  It is presented in a fairly unbiased, objective, and businesslike fashion, lacking spelling errors or other issues that could cause concern.

Links and Citations The article links to more articles from that it's own website.

Lessons Learned

I was honestly surprised by the lack of articles detailing small and specific cyber crimes, but I suppose that they've become so ubiquitous that unless they're particularly special, they won't even get onto the local news. I also expanded my knowledge of general cyber security, and learned better ways of conducting myself on the internet via the cybersecurity assessment. In this way I gleaned more insight on specific aspects of cyber attacks, such as phishing and ransomware.