Abbott Says Attacks On State Web Sites Originated In Iran

It isn’t yet known whether the Iranian government was involved in probing Texas agencies.

By Jill AmentJanuary 8, 2020 1:44 pm,

During a domestic terrorism roundtable between state lawmakers and agency leaders Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott and state cybersecurity experts said that in the past two days, as many as 10,000 “probes” per minute of state information technology systems have come from somewhere in Iran. They couldn’t yet determine whether the probes were sanctioned by the Iranian government.

Bob Garrett is the Austin bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News, and says Abbott and cybersecurity leaders are speculating about the true origin of the attacks on state websites that appeared to originate in Iran.

“They have no evidence that there’s any government-of-Iran-sanctioned or -launched cyberattacks,” Garrett says.

An unknown hacker did deface the Texas Department of Agriculture site, adding a photo of assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

Texas’ director of the Department of Information Resources said Tuesday that attempts to hack state websites are common; many of these recent threats are likely homegrown.

 

Written by Shelly Brisbin.