Remember that movie where the Russians overrun a little beach community?
Well, it happened last week.
It’s hard to believe that a weekly newspaper in paradise like The Anna Maria Island Sun could be a target for hackers in Russia, just like the websites of federal government agencies.
But we were.
From Aug. 25-30, amisun.com sustained repeated attacks from cybercriminals in Russia, Pakistan, Great Britain, Brazil and other countries.
Did their vacation plans to AMI get spoiled by red tide?
Are they angry about our political cartoons?
Are they targeting us because we just won a statewide First Amendment Defense award from the Florida Press Association?
Maybe, but we’ll never know, just like you never know why a delinquent kid chooses to throw a baseball through one random window rather than another.
Cybercriminals thrive on creating chaos.
We prefer order, and law, and will be talking to local police about the attack.
We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced trying to access our website last week. Please visit us again.
The red tide is receding, and so is the red threat, for now.