National Guard called in to thwart cyberattack in Louisiana weeks before election

The Louisiana National Guard was called in to stop a series of cyberattacks aimed at small government offices across the state in recent weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the events, highlighting the cyber threat facing local governments in the run up to the 2020 US presidential election.
The situation in Louisiana follows a similar case in Washington state, according to a cybersecurity consultant familiar with the matter, where hackers infected some government offices with a type of malware known for deploying ransomware, which locks up systems and demands payment to regain access.
Senior U.S. security officials have warned https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-election-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-officials-fear-ransomware-attack-against-2020-election-idUSKCN1VG222 since at least 2019 that ransomware poses a risk to the U.S. election, namely that an attack against certain state government offices around the election could disrupt systems needed to administer aspects of the vote.