Niceville’s IT director, Chad Morris, cited the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine for an need for additional vigilance while using City of Niceville systems and networks,

“Please be careful. There are actors out there that are trying to use this Russia-Ukraine conflict as an excuse to generate funds for some reason.”

Morris noted after the meeting that social engineering attacks might take the form of someone soliciting a city email account for money ‘to support Ukraine’ or something similar. This attack requires someone to click on a link, which then allows a hacker to gain access to a network and hold it for ransom.

“It could be one of the state actors, but it could also be individuals taking advantage of the confusion,” Morris said, “Everyone please watch your emails.. If you see stuff come in on your city email that is questionable – you are welcome to check [with IT]. You are not bothering us by asking us something, because I would much rather get questions all day long than to have one actually affect the network.”