News Roundup

Last week the North Carolina State Bar was the target of a ransomware attack, a type cyberattack where the attacker gains control of a computer system and demands a ransom in exchange for relinquishing control of the system.  As the State Bar explained in a statement late last week, the attack began as an infiltration of a single server and quickly spread to other servers, encrypting systems running on the servers as it went.  It appears that personally identifiable information was not compromised by the ransomware, but the State Bar website and its membership and CLE portals were disabled.  As of Tuesday, the website was back up and limited access to the portals was restored, though any changes made to the membership and CLE databases from September 24 through September 30 were lost.  Keep reading for more news. Conner’s Law.  WECT reports that House Bill 283, known as “Conner’s Law,” was signed into law by Governor Cooper this week.  The law increases the penalty for assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer, probation officer, or parole officer from a Class E to a Class D felony.  It also increases penalties for assaults on firefighters, emergency medical technicians, medical responders, and hospital personnel – taking the non-firearm deadly weapon or serious injury version of that offense from a Class H to a Class G felony, and taking the version involving use of a firearm from a Class F to a Class E felony.  In addition to those changes, the law [...]