Government agencies were attacked by malware

At least 23 government agencies in Texas (United States) suffered a joint ransomware attack last Friday in which several archives of the institutions were encrypted; this intrusion is the responsibility of a file with the extension ‘.JSE’, and the Department of Information resources (Department of Information Resources), is leading a response to this massive cyberattack.

According to several statements from the DIR, most of these entities were small and local and the systems and networks of the state of Texas have not been affected.

The Texas Emergency Management Division is coordinating the support offered by state agencies through the Texas State Operations Center. The origin of the attacks has not yet been located and is still under investigation but according to the DIR, “the existing evidence indicates that the attacks come from a single actor.”

According to local sources cited by the ZDNet media, the responsible for the attacks is a new type of ‘ransomware’ known for its extension ‘.JSE’, which encrypted the files of the affected agencies. This ‘malware’, first warned a year ago, does not show any notes or request any ransom, as is common in ransomware.

In addition, the DIR reported that it seems that all the systems that have been affected have been identified and notified and several agencies are already collaborating with them and the DIR, to re-establish the systems.

K. Tovar

Source: Univisión