Hackers seized on the pandemic, but some US states are fighting back

US states are trying to beef up their cybersecurity as threats evolve during the pandemic. — Dreamstime/TNS

Covid-19 made its US debut in Washington state, but the virus was only the first of several intruders to attack the state in the past year.

Last spring, cybercriminals breached the state’s unemployment system. Washington was one of the states affected by the massive SolarWinds hack, which was discovered in December. And in February, the state auditor’s office disclosed that fraudsters had exposed the personal information of more than a million residents.