The Texas Trib wrote yesterday: "Gov. Greg Abbott is warning Texans to be “particularly vigilant” regarding potential cyberterrorism from Iran, suggesting that heightened tensions with the country have caused an increase in attempted attacks on state agencies."
He must have been operating on "never waste a crisis". Bear with me for a moment, the article continues:
“This is something that everybody in the state of Texas needs to be concerned, prepared and be able to address,” Abbott said Tuesday during a meeting of the Domestic Terrorism Task Force, which he formed after last year’s anti-Hispanic deadly mass shooting in El Paso. “I think it’s very important that everybody be particularly vigilant about what may happen out of Iran.”
OK, a generic heads-up which is valid.
More from the Texas Trib: "Abbott, citing information from the Texas Department of Information Resources, said that as many as 10,000 attempted attacks per minute from Iran had been detected over the past 48 hours on state agency networks. He pointed to a cyberattack last year that involved dozens of local governments in Texas, stressing the importance of public and private sectors alike practicing “good cyber hygiene.”
Yup, all good, that needs to be done.
Amanda Crawford, executive director of the department, told reporters after the meeting that “these sorts of attacks happen every day” — but that the state “is being extra vigilant” given recent clashes between the United States and Iran. Crawford also said that, to the department’s knowledge, no attempted attacks had so far been successful on any of the state agency networks that the department monitors.
But here is the clincher, buried in the copy is stated:
“Today is no different than any other day,” she said, noting that the department sees “literally billions of probes on any given day.”
Oh, thanks, I was getting worried.
