Alabama investigating cybersecurity ‘event’ on state network
The Alabama Office of Information Technology is responding to a disruptive cybersecurity “event” after noticing abnormal network activity last week, the office announced Monday.
A notice posted to the state’s website by the technology division warned that users of the state’s network may experience temporary disruptions to websites, email and phone service. Some state employee usernames and passwords were compromised, but the personal data of state residents was not compromised, according to the notice.
“Our teams are actively working to establish a timetable and to ensure continuity of essential services to minimize any impact,” reads a notice signed by the governor’s communications director, Gina Maiola.
The notice provides few other details, except that the event was detected last Friday and that “teams have been working around-the-clock to identify and mitigate impacts.”
Frequency of cyberattacks against state and local governments is declining, according to a report published last year by the British security firm Sophos, but the cost of recovery is rising. The average cost of recovering from a ransomware attack rose to $2.8 million last year, up from $1.2 million in 2023.
