Cyberattacks targeting State of North Dakota Technology Department system on the rise

Shawn Riley (nd.gov)

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – Shawn Riley calls it a massive problem but one that’s being controlled. Riley is Chief Information Officer for the State of North Dakota Information Technology Department. He’s in charge of protecting the computer systems of the state’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches from cyber attacks. The department also guards higher education, K-12 schools, and city and county governments.

Riley said the number of cyberattacks that hit the state system is doubled from two years ago, now at 4.5 billion a year or about 8,600 per minute based on a report recently presented to a legislative committee.

An automatic artificial intelligence system blocks nearly all cyberattacks, but Riley said there are thousands more that cannot be handled automatically. A team of more than 50 employees on the cyber side and another 450 within the rest of the IT department respond to those attacks.

There are concerns about the possibility of Russian cyberattacks, but Riley said it doesn’t appear there’s been anything significant to the state system so far.