It has been reported that the Department of Information Resources (DIR) has confirmed that the state of Texas has been responding to a cyber-attack that has affected at least 23 government agencies. Details are at a minimum at the moment as the Department of Information Resources (DIR) leads the response and investigation into the attacks. Texas released a brief notification advising affected local jurisdictions to call the state’s Division of Emergency Management for assistance. The attacks started in the morning of August 16 and based on the collected evidence appear to have been conducted by a single threat actor.
The latest development to this hack is that the hacker is now demanding a collective ransom of $2.5 million. The names of all the municipalities impacted by the attack remain undisclosed, but two of them announced the hit publicly. Ransomware incidents have increased lately in the U.S., and the government sector is a frequent target. And it makes sense when more and more administrative entities decide to pay the ransom, which may get as high as half a million dollars.
