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OSU Expert Evaluates Pro-ISIS Hacks on Ohio Government Websites

photo of hacker
FRANK PETERS
/
SHUTTERSTOCK

The eleven state government websites that were hacked over the weekend are back online today. The hackers had posted messages against President Trump and for the Islamic State on the websites, including Gov. John Kasich’s.

Ohio State University cyber security expert Helen Patton says the Sunday morning attacks didn’t appear to be the destructive kind that have been blamed for shutting down businesses or exposing confidential information.

“The kind of thing that we saw would be classified as “hacktivism” which is just an overly used term. But it’s really just about making a statement. It’s similar to people standing in front of the Statehouse waving banners,” he said.

Patton says the state’s response to take the affected servers off line was the correct one. The state continues to investigate who was responsible for the hacking. Along with the Ohio websites, government sites in New York and Maryland were also hit.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.