Jul 9

Costly Impact of Cyber Attacks

By |2021-07-09T08:06:06-08:00July 9th, 2021|government, Industry News, Local Government, State Government, Technology Innovations|0 Comments

Cyber-attacks and threats seem to be dominating the news lately as hackers are finding ways to exploit security weaknesses in governments, companies, healthcare organizations, and personal home devices. The new breed of attacks is now taking data and entire systems down and demanding ransom payments in the tens of millions of dollars.

According to the U.S. Government’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Assurance Agency (CISA): Ransomware is an ever-evolving form of malware designed to encrypt files on a device, rendering any files and the systems that rely on them unusable. Malicious actors then demand ransom in exchange for decryption. Ransomware actors often target and threaten to sell or leak exfiltrated data or authentication information if the ransom is not paid.

The impact of these attacks will quickly have an outsized impact on not only the entity attacked, but on consumers who will bear the brunt of the cost.

AV Capture

Cyber Security

Ransomware attacks were up 150% in 2020, and growing even faster in 2021, and the financial amount companies paid to hackers grew by 300%, according to Harvard Business Review.

This sudden increase has an undeniable connection to the increase in employees working remotely last year. The pandemic gave hacker groups the perfect opportunity to breach sensitive data because most businesses were not prepared to require employees to install the proper security protections at their home office.

It is estimated that there are between 20 and 30 billion Internet-connected devices which include computers, tablets, smartphones, wireless Internet, and other “smart” devices, like televisions, home security cameras, and even refrigerators. More devices mean more avenues for attack by hackers.

Already in 2021, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in this activity, with high-profile ransom attacks against critical infrastructure, private companies, and municipalities grabbing headlines almost daily.

Recently the City of Tulsa discovered some servers were actively communicating with a known threat site and a ransomware attack was initiated on several City systems. According to the city’s website, “A cybersecurity incident response team was assembled to assess the threat and disconnected the affected servers. The team immediately began isolating the affected systems and the attack moved quickly through the network, prompting the team to shut down all services to halt the attack.”

The attack on the City of Tulsa’s network caused a massive disruption in many city’s services and was costly to resolve.

“We have multiple computers all linked together. We’re talking about hundreds if not thousands of different types of connections that the city is looking into right now,” Captain Richard Meulenberg said as he explained the situation from the Tulsa Police Department.

When a government entity is hacked it has the potential to undermine the security of thousands of systems, networks, and services. Government hacking often depends on exploiting vulnerabilities in systems with the objective to create chaos or more deviously, it could have a surveillance objective. Government hacking may also involve manipulating people to interfere with their own systems. These techniques prey on user trust, the loss of which can undermine the security of systems and the internet.

The reality is most of the cyber-attacks are done by Governments and most were launched against other governments to demonstrating a state’s capabilities rather than causing real disruption. Now that’s changed. The real damage is being down and massive resources are being used to prevent attacks, repair damages, and claw back ransom payments.

Non-government entities have also been hacked more often and none bigger than the breach of Colonial Pipeline in late April.  The Colonial Pipeline attack made such an impact because the pipeline is an important part of the national critical infrastructure system. Taking the system down disrupted gas supplies all along the East Coast of the United States, causing chaos and panic.

This attack hit close to home for many consumers and was particularly dangerous because consumers started to panic and ignored safety precautions. After the chaos receded, government officials confirmed that Colonial Pipeline’s cybersecurity measures were not up to par and may have been prevented if stronger protection was in place.

Cybersecurity, which began in the early 1970s, has always been tied to technological advancements.

For AV Capture All, we take security very seriously and we built our Legislative and Judicial Solution meeting management platforms from the ground up with security in mind.

Jul 22

Next Generation Wireless Service Is Coming

By |2020-07-22T09:04:12-08:00July 22nd, 2020|City Clerks, Court hearings, government, judicial, Live Streamng, Local Government, State Government, Technology Innovations|0 Comments

As we now enter the 6th month of quarantine and social distancing, our cell phones have been a lifeline to keep us working, in touch, informed, and provide a level of security. 

For local governments, this has put a strain on their wireless bandwidth as more business is conducted via wireless phones, tablets, and laptops. As city governments adopt a virtual council meeting environment, either in whole or in part, being able to keep connectivity with citizens, has become crucial.

What has quickly become clear is that many local governments are facing how to keep up with the technology demand by going virtual. Smaller local governments do not have the bandwidth necessary to work remotely and provide all the services mandated.

This is highlighted by recent events and political protests that typically overload available capacity on cellular networks.  To add to the stress on cellular towers, sudden peaks in data usage that takes place in disasters and crowed events further causes 3G, 4G, and LTE cellular networks to fail.

Public safety and emergency management are critical functions of the state government. In response to emergency and disaster events, access to reliable communication is vital.  In emergency events, cellular network operators (such as AT&T, Verizon, and more) request, “Customers to use text or email to free up voice capacity for public safety officials on the scene.”

Because current telecommunications networks simply can’t cope with the massive increase in call volume in a disaster or crowded event, first-responders and those in public safety and emergency management must be prepared to use alternative forms of communications.

Simply put, mobile wireless networks become unreliable during and after a disaster or emergency situation. There are several different places where congestion can happen. Networks consist of different technologies, different levels and different mobile switching centers that may cover a large area.

But help may be on the way.

The newest generation in wireless networking is called Fifth generation (5G) wireless technology and it can open the door to transforming and enhancing public services right at the time we need it most.

The fifth generation of wireless networks represents a major boost in both capacity and speed that will help ease the burden on current systems and offer vital improvements to public services. But this technology is both costly and controversial even as states and local governments begin to legislate and regulate around 5G.

It is hard to imagine how a business or government will survive without access to the technology we need to stay connected and informed. Virtual meetings have become essential to keep businesses and governments running. As we look into the future, it is evident that investing in building strong communication networks, in particular 5G, will be as crucial as ever to American safety. Fifth generation wireless technology has the potential to reboot how the U.S. government achieves many of its critical missions.

5G Benefits State and Local Governments

When any city faces an emergency, they must quickly communicate with the public. When you factor in the current virtual environment, more and more devices are consuming more and more data which can strain bandwidth, slow services, and drop connections.

The potential upside to greater capacity and network speed is huge. Surges in cellular network use during emergency events are less likely to slow or prevent vital communications between citizens and first responders. 5G will be the underlying infrastructure to help usher in fully autonomous vehicles, intelligent public safety cameras, and connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices used throughout city infrastructure. Jurisdictions with 5G networks are likely to attract tech-savvy residents and businesses that leverage those connections for new digital business models and reach new customers.

However, none of this happens without the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) streamlining unnecessary regulatory roadblocks to small cell deployment, as well as keeping its vital spectrum auctions on schedule.

AV Capture All provides a platform for local governments and its judicial branch to record and live stream city council meetings and courtroom hearings. Our platform uses a cloud service to store the audio and video files so no bandwidth is used on the government’s server.

AV Capture All is here to ensure the gears of government continue to work and the public is informed.

Contact us today to a Demo.

Jul 13

Local Government Spending

By |2020-07-13T12:11:20-08:00July 13th, 2020|government, Local Government, State Government|0 Comments

Every local government has to decide how to direct general expenditures.  Education and police top the list, followed by healthcare, transportation, and roads.  An issue that all state and local governments are currently facing is a substantial projected budget shortfall in revenue because of closures due to COVID19.

State and local governments spent $193 billion on law enforcement and corrections in 2017. Local governments were responsible for $129 billion, or two-thirds of that spending. Law enforcement spending ranks behind education ($684 billion) as the second-largest spending category for local government budgets.

According to USA Facts, governments in America’s largest counties tend to spend more money per capita on law enforcement than smaller counties, according to data compiled by the US Census Bureau.

Local governments spent on average $340 per person on law enforcement in 2017. That represents 9.2% of all spending, but priorities differ in counties of varying sizes and demographics.

The 9.2% of all local government spending is a fifth of what’s spent locally on education (48.6% of spending or $2,106 per person). It’s also more than twice that of public health (4% or $174 per person).

In the 25 most populous counties, local governments spent $573 per resident on law enforcement – which includes both police services and corrections. In the next 303 most populous counties, all with at least 200,000 residents, law enforcement spending stood at $388 per person.

For the next largest state expenditure, public education, spending per pupil ranges from $7,486 in Idaho to $23,091 In New York, the highest tally of any state, followed by the District of Columbia, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Vermont.

Local governments spend far more of their budgets directly on elementary and secondary education than states. In 2017, 40% of local direct general spending went to elementary and secondary education compared with less than 1% of state direct spending.

Only in Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, and New Jersey did state governments deliver 5% or more of direct K–12 spending. Hawaii was an outlier because the Hawaii State Department of Education operates public schools and thus 100 percent of its direct educational spending occurred at the state level.

Overall, the United States spent $13,025 per pupil in 2017. Among the states, New York spent the most per pupil ($25,288), followed by Wyoming ($20,255), New Jersey ($19,364), and Vermont ($18,755). These states also generally had the most per capita spending in 2017.

One of the next highest direct general expenditures is in healthcare. In 2017, state and local governments spent $294 billion, or 10% of direct general spending, on health and hospitals. Health and hospitals combined were the fourth-largest source of state and local direct general spending in 2017 and roughly equal to higher education expenditures. And in 2017, 66% of health and hospital spending went to hospital services and 34% went to other health programs.

According to a Pew Research report on federal data released since the pandemic, education jobs have accounted for nearly two-thirds of the decline in state and local government employment.  It is not known how this will recover when school starts again in late summer.  Nationally, local education employment has declined by more than 9% since March.

As local governments face substantial projected budget shortfall in revenue because of closures due to COVID19, AV Capture All provides affordable tools for city councils and municipal courts to live stream meetings, keep agendas organized and help citizens stay engaged.  Click here to request a quote and demo.

Source: Urban Institute and usafacts.org

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