The Southwest Florida Script Hack ✪

For security researchers: The SWFL script kit is a textbook case of how beats complex exploits every time. End of guide. For further reading, see the publicly redacted version of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office cyber crime report #2024-01983-CC, or the NIST SP 800-86 guide to forensic analysis of PowerShell artifacts.

Disclaimer: This guide is for educational and cybersecurity awareness purposes only. Unauthorized access to computer systems, medical records, or financial data is a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and similar state laws. The techniques described here are based on publicly disclosed breach analyses and hypothetical red-team exercises. 1. What Is the "Southwest Florida Script Hack"? The term refers to a specific methodology of cyber intrusion first identified in forensic audits of small-to-midsize businesses (SMBs) across Lee, Collier, and Charlotte counties (Naples, Fort Myers, Cape Coral). Unlike sophisticated ransomware campaigns, this "hack" relies on automated, off-the-shelf scripting to exploit three specific weaknesses common in the region’s business sectors: healthcare, real estate, and tourism.

If you are a business owner in Naples, Fort Myers, or Sarasota: enable MFA on every email account, disable RDP from the internet, and train staff to never open .lnk files. That stops 99% of this attack.