Ransomware Infects 20+ Local Government Networks in Texas
- by Nick Cohen
- in Industry
- — Aug 23, 2019
Multiple federal and state agencies - including the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Texas Department of Public Safety - are assisting with the response. The State Operations Center, as defined on its website, exists in a capacity that "operates 24/7 to monitor threats, make notification of threats and provide information on emergency incidents to local, state, and federal officials, and coordinate state emergency assistance to local governments that have experienced an emergency situation that local response resources are inadequate to deal with".
The state has not identified the affected cities or said whether any of the agencies have paid a ransom.
That city estimated losses of around $18m (£15m) from the attack.
All efforts are being made to get the agencies back online as soon as possible.
The DIR declined to comment beyond the press release.
Trying to prevent such attacks is "a continual cat-and-mouse game" for governments of all sizes, Sprehe said.
The US Conference of Mayors said in July that there have been 22 ransomware attacks on city, county and state governments so far this year. It proposes that people ought to take advantage of training and they should "not open suspicious or unexpected links or attachments in emails".
In May 2019, the city of Baltimore, Maryland, had 10,000 of its computers affected by a ransomware attack , where the attacker demanded a $100,000 payment in Bitcoin to release the data.
"23 Texas cities were targeted in a "coordinated ransomware attack" " was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans - and engages with them - about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Several Florida cities in June paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to hackers who encrypted records, disabled their email systems and blocked their ability to pay employees and vendors via direct deposit.
Authorities say that they are not aware whether the Texas Municipalities have made a decision to plan something or give in and pay the ransom amount demanded by the culprit.
