Extremism Has Spread into the Mainstream | Refugees & Security Concerns | Disasters & Language Gap, and more

Cyberattack on New Hampshire School District Illustrates Growing Threat to States and Localities  (Laura Olson, Iowa Capital Dispatch)
In October 2019, officials at a tiny western New Hampshire school district suddenly realized they had a problem on their hands.
The Sunapee School District’s servers, documents and other internal information systems had been locked down by an outside entity demanding a ransom payment.
A cyberattack, like the Colonial Pipeline one that spurred days of shuttered gas stations this spring, had seized the small, 430-student school district, which has just one full-time IT staffer and a part-time technician.
A 2020 report from cybersecurity services firm BlueVoyant  found a 50% increase in cyberattacks on state and local governments between 2017 and 2019, with a tenfold increase during that period in the amount of ransom being demanded to regain access to critical systems.

Will History Repeat in a Dry Klamath Basin This Summer?  (Anna V. Smith, Grist)
This year’s drought is worse than in 2001, when political and environmental tensions exploded into the national spotlight.

The Secret Weapon That Helps Hamas Raise Millions of Dollars  (David Rosenberg, Ha’aretz)
Global media coverage of the fighting drew attention to how the militant organization had brought hundreds of thousands of viewers to its website, where they were provided instructions on how to contribute under the eyes of the authorities, and offered a QR code to facilitate the transactions. The QR code is just one example of how Hamas has become something of a technology leader among terrorist groups, which experts say are making more and more use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to raise money. After being driven off the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange two years ago by U.S. authorities, for instance, Hamas developed software that creates a new digital-wallet address each time a donor scans the QR code. “Now, instead of one Hamas wallet, you have many wallets and many donors. That makes it hard to follow the money,” explains Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based nonprofit that builds programs to sever the financial, recruitment and material support networks of extremist groups and their leaders.

U.S. General: ‘Wildfire of Terrorism’ on March in Africa  (Mosa’Ab Elshamy, AP / Washington Post)
A senior U.S. general warned Friday that the “wildfire of terrorism” is sweeping across a band of Africa and needs the world’s attention. He spoke at the close of large-scale U.S.-led war games with American, African and European troops. The African Lion war games, which lasted nearly two weeks, stretched across Morocco, a key U.S, ally, with smaller parts held in Tunisia and Senegal. The annual drills were skipped last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, head of the U.S. Africa Command, praised the work accomplished in joint operations, and painted a dark picture of threats besetting parts of Africa. “I am concerned about the security situation across a band of Africa,” from the Sahel region in the west to the Horn of Africa, Townsend told reporters. He noted deadly attacks by al-Qaida- and Islamic State-linked jihadis and al-Shabab. “All of them are on the march,” he said. African neighbors are helping governments deal with the threat, but, he added, “all of that does not seem to be sufficient enough to stop what I call … (the) wildfire of terrorism that’s sweeping that region.” African Lion saw more than 7,000 troops from seven countries and NATO carry out air, land and sea exercises together.

As Refugee Numbers Rise, Many Countries Want to Shut Them Out for Security Concerns  (Sara M.T. Polo and Julian Wucherpfennig, Washington Post)
What the data reveal on the link between hosting refugees and risks of terrorist attacks from foreign groups

Climate Crisis Laid Bare as New Map Illustrates Threat of Rising Sea Levels  (Paul McTaggart, Big Issue)
A new tool mapping sea level rises across the UK hopes to accelerate planning, and so help to avoid as much suffering as possible.

During Wildfires and Hurricanes, a Language Gap Can Be Deadly  (Kate Yoder, Grist)
The importance of translating emergency warnings is often a lesson learned too late.