Cyber criminals steal money, data from South Carolina towns

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Hackers breached nearly a dozen local government offices and agencies in South Carolina last year, compromising personal information for more than 500,000 people and stealing public funds.

Recent attacks include Laurens School District 56, Spartanburg County, the city of Inman and the Greer Commission of Public Works, which affected more than 14,000 people’s personal information. In December, Westminster confirmed it was the victim of a cyber attack in which money was stolen, though officials would not say how much.

Brian Shea, who leads the South Carolina Center for Cybersecurity , said small towns are particularly vulnerable because hackers exploit human weaknesses rather than technical ones.

“Cyber threats are looking to attack us where we are weakest. In many cases, that’s not necessarily where we are technically weak. It is where our personnel aren’t cyber aware,” Shea said.

An analysis of more than 100 state agency budget plans found at least a dozen requested funds for cybersecurity or IT upgrades. The Department of Behavioral Health alone requested $24 million to modernize their system.

Shea said businesses and governments may be tempted to delay investing in cybersecurity.

“At any given minute, at any given day, investing the dollar in cybersecurity doesn’t always feel like the thing that has to happen,” Shea said. “It is easy to tell ourselves, I’ll spend a later dollar on cybersecurity. Today’s dollar needs to go to something else. And that all feels fine until something goes wrong.”

He said delaying investments can make damages worse and create potential liability for not having proper systems in place.

Small towns face the same sophisticated threats as larger organizations but often lack resources to defend against them.

“The biggest challenge of cybersecurity is that it is designed to counter a threat that is constantly evolving, constantly changing,” Shea said.

Shea recommended governments practice cybersecurity drills like natural disaster preparations and obtain cyber liability insurance coverage.

Governor Henry McMaster created the Center for Cybersecurity, led by the South Carolina Research Authority , to implement the state’s strategic plan. Shea said the center focuses on building a sustainable workforce pipeline similar to how South Carolina developed workers for car manufacturing.

“So that’s ensuring that we have a long-term sustainable pipeline of cybersecurity students, workers, entrepreneurs, businesses, technologies, so that those organizations ... have the workers to draw upon,” Shea said.

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