The next big cyberthreat isn't ransomware. It's killware. And it's just as bad as it sounds.
![Portrait of Josh Meyer](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.usatoday.com/gcdn/presto/2021/06/14/USAT/cc55ccc0-da5c-4424-ade7-4891077e03c6-Meyer_Josh.jpg?crop=2999,2999,x0,y389&width=48&height=48&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
As most Americans are still learning about the hacking-for-cash crime of ransomware, the nation’s top homeland security official is worried about an even more dire digital danger: killware, or cyberattacks that can literally end lives.
The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in April galvanized the public’s attention because of its consumer-related complications, including long lines at gas stations, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview with USA TODAY's Editorial Board last week.
But "there was a cyber incident that very fortunately did not succeed," he added. "And that is an attempted hack of a water treatment facility in Florida, and the fact that that attack was not for financial gain but rather purely to do harm.”