The Weaponization of Data
‘We’re have shut down the system.' People can't use any services related to the customer portal on the state's bridges. The hackers had 1tb of data and wanted $1m.
The officials after the ransom demand was received, went in and tried to see what happened. Of course they can't really know what information was taken. They can't really do anything. They ‘continued to use a suite of specialized tools’ in order to try to ‘identify the type of attack’ and the response they should take. There is no response, idiot, your data was hacked. What you should do as a response is close off your systems from the internet.
How much additional cost has been added by using programs, connected to the internet, in sensitive information offices, because they're ‘better’ and ‘can do more’? If you had a closed system, and only transferred info separately, on a device for sending information, which is not connected, you wouldn't have hacks (unless a person entered with a USB drive). Not only in fixing hacks, but that data is out there after each hack, and we only know a small part of hacks that have taken place, and each individual also has expense from any scams or whatever.
Also you can note that the companies (now many worth hundreds of millions) who sell software to try to make these systems secure (but can't, really) have no incentive to actually reduce hacking. Actually, the more hacking, the more money they make. There has been no reduction in hacking in recent years, despite increased costs for computer security systems. A smart company would have two sides, one to hack and cause concern, another to ‘fix’ it.