- BIG STORY: S.C. companies lag on email security as cybercrime losses soar
- ROUNDUP: S.C. lawmakers say no to THC restrictions, DUI reforms
- LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: A huge success
- BRACK: Maybe runoffs aren’t such a bad thing
- MYSTERY PHOTO: Part of a building
- FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
S.C. companies lag on email security as cybercrime losses soar
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | Two-thirds of South Carolina’s largest business enterprises leave their computer systems vulnerable to common email scams — a hole that’s helping to enable a cybercrime spree that the FBI says cost state residents $264 million last year, according to a new report.
Released June 8 by the Colorado-based cybersecurity firm Red Sift, the report found that only 35% of the 100 large S.C. ventures that it examined have fully implemented a security measure known as DMARC — an internet safeguard that prevents fraudulent emails bearing their company’s address from being delivered.
Put simply, DMARC helps ensure that any email you receive from, say, charlestoncitypaper.com, actually came from charlestoncitypaper.com — and not from a cybercriminal who faked the address.
In Red Sift’s data, Georgia and Tennessee were tied for first place in the Southeast for DMARC compliance at 45%, with Mississippi and S.C. bringing up the rear.
A Red Sift spokesperson declined to share the names of S.C. entities that haven’t fully adopted the DMARC standard, but offered a partial list of companies that have, including Boeing South Carolina, the S.C. Ports Authority and several major banks and universities.
“These days, most of the ways we work, bank and shop rely on trustworthy email,” Red Sift Vice President Brian Westnedge told the City Paper. “And when those trustworthy email communications break down, there are real consequences in terms of email phishing, fraud, ransomware and wire transfer attacks.”
What’s worse, Westnedge noted, those types of scams have only grown more sophisticated in the age of artificial intelligence.
“These aren’t the obvious Nigerian scams of yesteryear,” he said. “And because they’re now often crafted with AI, even a non-native speaker can make something that looks very convincing.”
‘A constant threat’
The “real consequences” Westnedge alluded to were quantified in an April 2026 report from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, which found that S.C. ranked 21st in the country for cybercrimes in 2025, with annual losses rising from $146 million to $264 million over the past year.
While the vast majority of those crimes receive little public notice, several high-profile cases have made headlines across the Palmetto State in recent months.
In March of this year, the town of Surfside Beach sent $545,000 to a cyberscammer posing as a contractor in an email scam. The S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED) is investigating.
In January 2026, Laurens County paid $1.6 million to cybercriminals in an email-based fake invoice scam. The county has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to gather information to identify the fraudsters.
In separate October 2025 incidents, Jasper County and York County officials warned residents of email phishing scams involving fake county bills and fees.
And in January 2025, a federal grand jury in Columbia indicted 12 people in a $25 million business email compromise scheme that authorities said targeted both companies and individuals.
“Cybercrime isn’t just a growing threat — it’s a constant one,” said Kevin Moore, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Columbia Field Office, in a release. “As the FBI works tirelessly to dismantle these criminal networks, we call on the public to do their part by adopting strenuous cyber hygiene practices and remaining vigilant in every online transaction.”
While law enforcement officials haven’t publicly connected those incidents to any one company’s email security settings, experts say they show how quickly email scams can turn into major public losses — and why basic security protections matter.
What businesses and individuals can do
For businesses and other enterprises, fully implementing DMARC is a three-step process that moves from gathering data on fraudulent emails, to quarantining suspicious messages, and finally, to telling recipients to automatically reject emails that can’t be authenticated as coming from their systems.
According to Red Sift, the good news for S.C. is that most of its largest organizations have at least started the process, with only 11% having not at least taken the first step.
Lou Vega, a Charleston-based senior security engineer with VDA Labs, explained why companies are often cautious about taking the final step.
“Protection is obviously critically important, but blindly implementing the DMARC standard could lead to legitimate email being rejected,” Vega said. “That’s the concern.”
As for the rest of us, Vega’s advice boils down to two simple security habits anyone can practice: patience and common sense.
In short, don’t rush to click the link in an urgent-sounding email from what appears to be a company with which you do business. Instead, go to the official company website or call a verified phone number to check if the message is real. And never forget that if it sounds too good, or too complicated, to be true, it almost certainly is.
“Just slow down, take a moment, and think about the email that’s demanding your attention,” Vega said. “And when you see them trying to explain all sorts of complicated steps involving money orders and things, just run away.”
Jack O’Toole is Statehouse bureau chief for Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
S.C. lawmakers say no to THC restrictions, DUI reforms
By Jack O’Toole, Statehouse bureau | South Carolina lawmakers on Thursday rejected reworked bills to strengthen the state’s DUI laws and restrict the sale of THC-infused drinks and edibles to adults 21 and over, likely killing both measures for the year.
Different versions of the bills passed each chamber earlier this year, forcing House and Senate negotiators to craft the compromise language that failed to win majorities yesterday. Failure to regulate THC products means they’re still available to everyone – including teens – across the state.
The DUI bill, a top priority of legislative leaders heading into the 2026 session, died in the Senate when a procedural vote required for final passage failed. Meanwhile in the House, industry supporters joined with members favoring a full ban on hemp-derived intoxicants to defeat the THC legislation.
Calling the session “a bad day for public safety,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, an Edgefield Republican, told reporters after the vote that the DUI defeat resulted from a decision to move language on THC-intoxicated driving into the DUI bill, according to a Post and Courier report.
“We had a lot of ‘no’ votes in here on DUI because they didn’t like the deal that we have in THC,” he told reporters, explaining that mixing the two issues splintered the solid Senate majority in support of tougher drunk driving penalties and the closure of procedural loopholes that make it difficult for prosecutors to get convictions.
Conversely, the issue that defeated the THC bill in the House was a requirement that the products be sold in liquor stores, which industry proponents argued was unfair to retailers who’ve been stocking the hemp-derived intoxicants since they were effectively legalized by the 2018 federal farm bill.
“What has made this state great is that the government respects business owners,” said House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford of Richland. “It respects people that employ people, and this is total disrespect to an entire industry.”
The votes came in a summer special session that will next try to find a compromise on the state’s 2026 budget — a process that’s so far been stymied by dueling House and Senate tax cuts, and which is expected to push past the July 1 start of the 2026-27 fiscal year.
Wilson wins big in GOP gubernatorial runoff race
Republican S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson shellacked Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette by a 38-point margin in a testy Tuesday GOP gubernatorial runoff. He’ll face Democratic nominee Jermaine Johnson, a member of the S.C. House of Representatives in Richland County, in November.
Meanwhile in the Lowcountry’s 1st Congressional District, retired Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore topped Mount Pleasant lawyer Mac Deford in a Democratic runoff by a 52% to 48% margin. The low-turnout contest brought 24,545 Democratic voters to the runoff polls.
In the Republican runoff for the 1st District seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who lost a bid for governor, Charleston County Council member Jenny Honeycutt of James Island polled 54% of the votes against Daniel Island funeral home owner and S.C. Rep. Mark Smith. Some 44,730 voters cast ballots in the GOP runoff.
Expected to challenge Lacore and Honeycutt in the November general election are three third-party candidates – Margo Ellis of the Alliance Party, Libertarian Bill Reeside and independent write-in candidate Clayton Cuteri, according to Ballotpedia.
Throughout the GOP governor’s runoff reporting of results Tuesday night, Wilson maintained a commanding lead over Evette, a Greenville businesswoman from Ohio who has served as term-limited incumbent Henry McMaster’s second since 2019.
By the time all was said and done, Wilson more than doubled the votes cast for Evette. He tallied 218,569 votes to her 100,227 votes in a race where turnout was just over 10%, according to unofficial results.
“Are we having fun tonight?” Wilson asked an enthusiastic Columbia crowd after his win before making a long list of thank-yous and calling for unity.
“Over the coming days and coming weeks, we’re going to unify,” Wilson said after mentioning several Republican candidates who he beat through the political season. “We need to unify. We can’t focus on what divides us; we have to focus on what unites us. That’s what’s important to South Carolina.”
During the two-week runoff period, Wilson saw his political star rise when he received a rare co-endorsement on Friday from President Donald Trump, who solely endorsed Evette in the June 9 primary.
Observers say Evette’s star started to fall after she criticized students at S.C. State University last month for opposing her as the graduation speaker. She called them a “woke mob” and eventually said some funding should be taken away from the school.
Other Tuesday results:
- Attorney General. GOP 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo of the Greenwood area beat state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Georgetown, by a 56% to 44% margin. Stumbo will take on Democratic nominee Richard Hracik, a Mount Pleasant lawyer, in the fall.
- Commissioner of Agriculture. In the GOP runoff, Cody Simpson outpolled Danny Ford II by a 26-point margin by snaring 63% of runoff votes. Simpson will face Democratic nominee DeShawn Blanding, a Clarendon County farmer, in the fall.
- Congress, District 2. Democratic candidate Zyon Khalifa beat David Robinson II by 433 votes of 5,693 cast in a race to challenge longtime U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson in this Midlands seat. Joe Wilson is Alan Wilson’s father.
In other recent news
2026: Johnson makes first post-primary pitch to S.C. voters. S.C. Rep. Jermaine Johnson, Democratic nominee for governor, urged voters in the November election to pick him because he wouldn’t “play partisan politics with their lives.”
- GOP lawmaker running for Congress resigns state Senate seat
- Wilson among 17 GOP AGs suing California over single-use plastics law
Minors in S.C. can now legally play pinball. S.C. lawmakers repealed a 70-year-old ban on youth pinball playing earlier this year, a change that officially went into effect after being signed by the governor.
- S.C. bill aims to help communication between emergency services, those with disabilities
- S.C. paid parental leave expansion heads to governor’s desk
Marlboro County now has state appointee running schools. The S.C. Department of Education today appointed retired Upstate administrator Elizabeth McDonald to run the struggling Marlboro County School District, which the department took over earlier this month.
S.C. Ports temporarily halts Leatherman operations in face of high costs, waning demand. The state agency that owns and operates the Port of Charleston is temporarily halting operations at its underutilized Leatherman Terminal here to save money in the face of a global trade slowdown.
Gas prices easing, but still high for holiday. Gas prices, while falling, likely will be the second-highest ever during the coming July 4 holiday. The average is $3.44 per gallon — 65 cents lower than a month ago, but 59 cents higher than a year ago.
Murdaugh attorneys ask to move retrial. Alex Murdaugh’s defense team wants a change of venue as the once convicted killer prepares for a new trial with a status conference scheduled next week.
A huge success
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for poking a little fun in just the right way. In this week’s panel, he skewers the Trump administration for recent bungling of the reflecting pool renovation on the National Mall and the nation’s war with Iran.
- Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Brack: Maybe runoffs aren’t such a bad thing
Commentary by Andy Brack | Three years back came a column touting the merits of ranked-choice voting, a strategy used worldwide to settle elections more quickly – and to avoid costly new runoff elections.
Also known as instant runoff voting, voters in several states simply go to the polls on election day like regular and pick their top candidate. But then they rank any other choices in the race. In the first count if no candidate gets a majority in a multi-candidate race, the bottom candidate is dropped and his or her votes are assigned in voters’ rank order to other candidates. Thanks to computer wizardry, the process continues until one candidate gets a majority.
It sounds more complicated than it is. But what it does is save a whole lot of money because election officials don’t have to spend millions to reopen polls for an actual runoff election – most of which have low participation here anyway – and voters don’t have to slog back to the polls.
Ranked-choice voting also encourages third parties in general elections because it allows voters to stick with their top preferred alternative, say a Democrat or Republican, as a main choice. But if that candidate gets dropped in the tallying process, then the voter’s second choice – a Green or Alliance or Libertarian – would pick up extra votes in the second or later round of the process, which would increase the chances of third-party candidates winning. The strategy also would lead to more kinds of ideological voices among those elected.
With all of this being said, what happened during South Carolina’s recent primary runoffs may give pause to some. Why? Because if the electorate had not had two extra weeks to examine the two candidates in each runoff and get more information, the results might have been far different.
Take the Republican gubernatorial race, for example. In the June 9 primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette came in top among five candidates with 28.9% of the vote. Attorney General Alan Wilson came in second with 26.1%. If South Carolina’s voting rules allowed the top vote-getter to be the winner or if a ranked-choice process was at work, Evette might now be the nominee.
But since our process demanded a June 23 runoff, voters had extra time to narrow their focus on the pros and cons of both candidates. And what they seem to have discovered was that Evette and Wilson were dramatically different kinds of people – even though their policy differences weren’t that stark.
Evette, you might remember, got lots of press when she attacked S.C. State University students in May who protested a sweetheart deal for her to serve as graduation speaker. She called them a “woke mob” for exercising their free speech rights – a snippet that she knew would be the red meat to inflame some conservative voters.
Meanwhile Wilson, who never has seen an anti-Democratic lawsuit that he didn’t like, carried on with a solid, respectful standard campaign without lots of drama and tension. He seemed to be a regular, decent standard-bearer in contrast to other recent hopefuls like U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who voters remembered cursing at law enforcement, and U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman who saw corruption everywhere in a state where fellow Republicans have run things for 20 years.
So when the choices narrowed for the runoff, Evette’s campaign went into uber-attack mode with nasty ads and inaccurate charges about Wilson’s record. Voters essentially saw someone who seemed just plain mean, compared to the genial Wilson – who can still fire off a zinger when necessary.
The runoff, in other words, allowed Republican voters to see the true character of the two remaining candidates. And when voters went to the polls June 23, they sent Evette packing in what may be the most lopsided primary runoff in state history.
Wilson won by a 37-point margin with more than twice the votes that Evette snared. Final tally: Wilson, 218,569; Evette, 100,277. Lesson learned: Runoffs are expensive and a pain, but might not be so bad.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Part of a building
This might be hard. It’s part of the front of a public building somewhere in South Carolina. Where is it? Send in your best guess – and your name and hometown – to feedback@statehousereport.com. And if you have a mystery photo to share, send that along too (but tell us what it is because we’re horrible guessers.)
Last week’s mystery, “Fountain and more,” showed one of two fountains in the private American Gardens in Charleston between Meeting and King streets near the Gibbes Museum of Art.
According to sleuth Jay Altman of Columbia, “This site was a parking lot until 2024 when the Beemok Hospitality Collection began construction of the park, which was designed by the landscape design firm Rees Roberts + Partners of New York City. The two 18-1/2 foot fountains were built by Robinson Iron of Alexander City, Ala.
Congrats also to the two other longtime readers who identified the mystery: Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas and George Graf of Palmyra, Va.
- SHARE: If you have a Mystery Photo to share, please send it to us – and make sure you tell us what it is!
Send us your thoughts
Please send us your thoughts about politics and policy in South Carolina, but make sure to leave phone numbers and hometowns to help us verify them for publication. We publish non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification – we can’t publish your views.
- Have a comment? Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com. Make sure to provide your contact details (name, hometown and phone number for verification. Letters are limited to 150 words.
Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
- Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
- Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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