Baker eyes beefed up cybersecurity after massive hack

Gov. Charlie Baker hinted that his administration is prepping a slate of proposals aimed at beefing up cybersecurity, just days after ransomware attacks began wreaking havoc on systems worldwide.

It’s unclear if Baker will be pushing legislation, but the Swampscott Republican said yesterday guarding the security of state records is a constant concern.

“You’ll see us make some proposals on how to improve our performance in the area in the not-too-distant future,” he told reporters. A spokesman later declined to elaborate, though cybersecurity has been already been a growing focus on Beacon Hill. The state Senate established its own task force earlier this month.

Businesses and government agencies around the world have been plagued since Friday by software that blocks access to a computer’s content, and demands users pay a ransom between $300 and $600 using bitcoin, a digital currency.

Federal officials have said that more than 300,000 computers around the world have been affected, with FedEx among the largest U.S. companies that were hit.

There have been no reports of state agencies being affected, and Baker said state officials have guarded against such an attack after IT officials put a so-called “patch” in place last year.

He added: “The particular issue that created a lot of the heartburn associated with this most recent outbreak was an issue that we identified on Microsoft’s desktop program about a year ago.”