Ohio finds itself facing a rapidly escalating wave of cybersecurity threats, ones that no longer resemble the simple phishing emails or brute-force attacks of the past. Today’s threats are more deceptive, more adaptive, and more damaging. Fueled by artificial intelligence, sophisticated social engineering, and the vulnerabilities of legacy infrastructure, these attacks aim to cripple essential services, sow public distrust, and extract financial leverage from overstretched agencies.

This article explores the tactics behind these attacks, why they’re so effective, and how adopting GovRAMP-authorized cloud security offers public agencies a clear, practical, and achievable path forward.

The Rise of AI-Powered Deception

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The most dangerous attacks today no longer rely on breaking down technical barriers. Instead, they exploit human behavior. With the help of artificial intelligence, attackers can convincingly mimic voices, create realistic fake videos, and craft messages that sound like they come from trusted figures inside an organization.

These techniques exploit social trust and workplace urgency. Staff may hear what sounds like a supervisor’s voice telling them to approve a file or bypass a check. It seems both plausible and urgent.

AI-driven tactics include

Cloned voices generated from short recordings, often taken from public meetings, voicemails, or online videos (also known as deepfakes that can bypass biometrics and power social engineering attacks).
Fabricated video of leadership figures asking for credentials, approvals, or emergency action.
Emotional or time-sensitive messages that pressure recipients to act without verification.
Rapid iteration, allowing attackers to adjust tactics based on what does or doesn’t work in real time.

These are targeted campaigns, often customized for specific departments, workflows, or individuals. A single compromised voice message could trigger a chain of actions that grants attackers internal access and, from there, damage scales quickly.

Ransomware Still Packs a Punch

Once attackers are inside a system, ransomware becomes their weapon of choice. Ransomware allows criminals to encrypt agency systems, lock access to critical functions, and demand payment, often in cryptocurrency, in exchange for the decryption keys.

What makes public systems especially vulnerable is not just the sophistication of the attackers but the age and fragility of the systems being targeted. Many local and state agencies still rely on outdated infrastructure that lacks the visibility and controls to detect threats early or respond quickly.

Legacy systems that haven’t received security patches in years
Flat networks with few internal boundaries, allowing lateral movement once a system is breached
Limited real-time monitoring that leaves malicious activity undetected for hours or days
Pressure to restore public services, which leads to faster payments or risky workarounds

These attacks don’t just cost money. They cost time, public trust, and operational stability. When 911 dispatch systems, utility management, or municipal payroll go down, the effects ripple across entire communities.

What’s worse, attackers now leak stolen data publicly if agencies refuse to pay. This “double extortion” tactic maximizes pressure to pay.

Why Attacks Keep Escalating

The cyber threat landscape evolves faster than most agencies can adapt. Part of this is due to how easy it has become to access powerful tools. AI-driven deepfake software, voice cloning applications, and ransomware-as-a-service kits are all widely available… even to inexperienced criminals.

Meanwhile, public agencies are falling behind amid constant attacks, growing complexity, and demands for new, modern countermeasures. Many private-sector organizations face the same challenges.

Key factors driving the trend include:

Easy access to AI tools that lower the barrier to entry for attackers.
Aging infrastructure that cannot fend off modern threats.
High staff workloads increase the success of social engineering attacks.
Valuable and sensitive public data, from SSNs to utility records, that can be monetized.

How GovRAMP Helps Agencies Push Back

Despite the overwhelming pace of change in cybersecurity, there’s good news: agencies don’t have to fight these battles alone. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (GovRAMP) offers a vetted, standardized path for adopting secure cloud services.

Rather than relying on vendor promises or inconsistent policies, GovRAMP provides a unified framework that any agency can adopt.

Standardized requirements across all authorized cloud vendors.
Thorough risk assessments are conducted before approval is granted.
Mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA) to protect identity access.
Continuous monitoring tools that detect anomalies in real time.
Proactive patching and update policies to close known vulnerabilities.

When an agency chooses a GovRAMP-approved cloud provider, it knows that the provider has been tested, audited, and continually evaluated to federal security standards. This dramatically reduces risk, improves visibility, and gives IT teams a foundation to build on.

Practical Steps that Agencies and Their CSPs Can Take

The good news is that public security isn’t an all-or-nothing strategy. The best approach is incremental modernization, focusing on high-risk areas and implementing proven safeguards that can scale over time.

Before agencies overhaul their systems, they should start with clear, actionable steps that reduce exposure and improve response time.

Map Critical Systems and Data: Create a complete inventory of all applications, data repositories, user roles, and third-party services. Knowing where sensitive data lives is the first step in protecting it.
Migrate High-Risk Workloads to GovRAMP Environments: Any system that processes personally identifiable information (PII), financial data, or controls should be moved to an environment that meets federal security standards.
Verify Urgent Communications Using Trusted Channels: Adopt a strict secondary verification policy. If a request for credentials or access comes via voice or email, confirm it via a known, secure method, such as an in-person conversation, a Slack message, or a secure internal tool.
Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Everywhere: Require MFA on all accounts, including internal users, vendors, contractors, and administrators. One compromised password shouldn’t give attackers free rein.
Enable Logging and Forensics Tools: Ensure all systems maintain secure logs and that those logs are accessible in the event of an incident. Use GovRAMP-approved logging and SIEM tools to streamline threat detection and investigation.

The Path Forward for Ohio

Ohio’s public sector faces very real cybersecurity challenges. But they also have options. Through frameworks like GovRAMP, agencies can take immediate, meaningful steps to secure their environments without waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect budget. Every system protected, every user verified, and every tool modernized puts more distance between vital services and the next attack.

We provide risk management and compliance support for every major regulation and compliance framework on the market, including:

And more. We are the only FedRAMP and StateRAMP-authorized compliance and risk management solution worldwide.

Continuum GRC is a proactive cybersecurity® and the only FedRAMP and StateRAMP-authorized cybersecurity audit platform worldwide. Call 1-888-896-6207 to discuss your organization’s cybersecurity needs and learn how we can help protect your systems and ensure compliance.

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