NY: Sheriffs warn of hackers after brute force attack

Joe Mahoney reports:

In a recent incident that officials say illustrates the vulnerability of local government computer networks, the communications system of an upstate New York police agency was disrupted by a hacking attack.

The Schuyler County Sheriff’s Department, headquartered in Watkins Glen, had to get support from surrounding counties after the hacking temporarily crippled its 911 emergency system and ability to dispatch deputies to calls, said Peter Kehoe, director of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association.

[…]

A memo circulated by Schuyler County Sheriff William Yessman Jr. last week described the hacking episode there as a “direct attack from a foreign country on our system,” coming from a computer that “kept trying various passwords until it accessed our system.”

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