Ransomware

Today I attended a talk at the Winona Historical Building about ransomware. The talk was given by the Winona County Recorder. Ransomware is when another entity steals data and programs from a place and holds them for ransom. In January of this year, cyber criminals stole data from Winona County and held it for ransom. In this case it was $128,000.00. That is a boat load of money for a county that is barely making it and was looking to increase taxes by double digits. Insurance paid $50,000.00. The county recorder gave a good talk but could not give us all the details because there is still an open case with the FBI. The biggest suspect is Iran. This cyber attack held up data for property records, employee data, and payroll.  The attack on Winona County was the largest ransom ware attack in the state of Minnesota.  The second largest attack was on Washington County which makes sense because they have a lot more money. When asked why the attackers chose such a money poor county he mentioned an issue with Fastenal. Fastenal is a large employer here in Winona. They have a building on Second Street which is unique. This is a five story building. Corporate executives are on the first and second floor. Hourly workers are on the fourth and fifth floors which have beautiful views of the Mississippi River and the cliffs of Wisconsin. Fastenal appealed the tax rate on their building which is their right to do. The county searched throughout the state for a similar building and could not find anything equivalent. Next they searched the nation for a similar building. Fastenal threatened to go to court. County officials and Fastenal talked about it and decided to come to an agreement without going to court. All the searches for buildings equivalent to Fastenal might have triggered the ransomware. He told us to expect many more ransom ware attacks in the future. A near by town had a smaller ransom ware attack. The city council decided to pay the ransom minus ten per cent. As a result they lost all that money and all their data. Experts say it is best to pay the full amount. He couldn't tell us how the ransom was paid but I suspect bitcoin. The recorder had other things to say about the county. Birth rates are down. Death rates are up. They were told to expect more marriages during the pandemic. Instead the divorce rates skyrocketed. Although the talk was interesting and informative, I now have more things to worry about.

The Orphan's Tale

Pam Jennoff is the author of the historical fiction novel called The Orphan's Tale. The story is about the friendship of two women during World War Two in Germany. Noa was 16 when her parent's threw her out of the house for being pregnant. A Nazi officer had made false promises to her. She is taken to a Nazi home for pregnant women. Her child would be given to the Reich. Her son had dark hair and dark eyes. He was deemed unsuitable for the Reich. Noa was expelled from the home. She got a job at a train station. She slept in the attic above the train station. One day she heard noises from a train car. The train car was full of babies being sent to a prison camp. The babies were cold, dirty, and hungry. Noa decides to save one of the babies. She takes him with her through the woods in the winter. When she is overcome by the cold, a fellow named Peter finds her. Peter works as a clown at a circus that over winters near these woods. When Noa awakens she claims the baby is her brother and she ran away from an abusive father. She offers to cook and clean to support herself and the baby until she can recover. The circus owner says he doesn't need a cook nor a cleaner. He needs an aerialist. He needs a trapeze artist. Noa trains with the other trapeze artist, Astrid. Astrid came to the circus looking for help. She grew up at a nearby circus. She left the circus when she married a Nazi officer and moved to Berlin. Soon the Nazi's insisted that all officers must abandon their wives if the wives were Jewish. The friendship between Astrid and Noa provides the bulk of this lovely story. This book had a long epilogue (35 minutes long) which wrapped up all the loose ends neatly. 

 

 

The Book Of Unknown Americans

Christina Henriquez is the author of The Book Of Unknown Americans. The story takes place in a housing development in Delaware. Immigrants from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuala and Panama live there. Some come because a large mushroom farm that employs immigrants is nearby. One set of couples come from Mexico with their daughter Maribel. Maribel fell from a tall ladder while visiting her father at work one day and has a head injury. Her parents bring her to Delaware to offer the best of special education for head injuries. Mayor, a 17 year old boy who came from Panama with his parents and older brother, sees something in Mirabel that others don't notice. Their burgeoning love story is lovely. 

 

 

Remains Of The Day

Kazuo Ishiguro is the author of Remains Of The Day. This novel is historical fiction about a butler in an English estate during World War One. Stevens is the butler. He is the son of a butler. He was very professional. He had a lot of esteem for his employer at the estate. After his employer dies, an American takes over the estate. The American employer offers Stevens the chance for a holiday. He encourages Stevens to take his car and enjoy a road trip. While on his adventure Stevens travels the countryside and thinks about his former employer. With the advantage of hindsight his esteem for his former employer decreases. Along with that, his pride in his work as a butler also diminishes.  His desire to please his employer overrode his development of his own personality and beliefs.  Despite the entire book taking place in a butler's mind, this was a very interesting book.

 

  

Tell My Horse

 Nora Zeale Hurston is the author of the travelogue called Tell My House: Voodoo And Life In Haiti And Jamaica. This book details her travels in two countries. She explores the country side, the food, and the culture. She writes about the folk tales and the saying. She explores religious concepts in both countries. We learn about zombies, poison, and Voodoo ceremonies. I found the book to be interesting in that it is so different than other travel books I have read.

 

 

Free Things To Do

Minnesota Institute of Arts

Como Conservatory

This week I am pet sitting in Minneapolis. With time on my hands I looked for things to do besides walking around the neighborhood or visiting the library. There is so much available in this area. 

 

 

Orbital

Samantha Harvey, a British author, wrote Orbital. This is a literary novel published in 2023 about the International Space Station. The story takes place during 24 hours in space. There are four astronauts and two cosmonauts. The people from space are from Russia, Japan, USA, Italy, and Britain. Two are female. This is to be one of the last missions before the International Space Station is dismantled. Traveling at 1700 miles per hour, they glide over the earth and admire the beauty. They see a huge typhoon over the Pacific. The book talks about their meals and their exercise and their sleeping arrangements. We learn about their assignments. We learn what countries and cities they are passing. Interesting book but the list of countries and cities got to be too long and extensive.