Ransomware, Malware, Critical Infrastructure Security, Threat Management

Ransomware attack disrupts Texas city

Texas' Tomball City had most of its networks compromised by a ransomware attack on Dec. 20, resulting in damages estimated to be more than $50,000, according to Community Impact. Tomball City Manager David Esquivel has already been authorized by the city council to spend the funds required to facilitate the city's recovery from the intrusion. While Tomball's emergency services were not disrupted by the incident, the city's online payment systems have been compromised, leading to the waiving of late fees due Dec. 30. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI have also been sought to help in investigating the intrusion. "Once we saw that it was that type of issue that we were dealing with, that was the first response because, at that point, its an outside attack into our systems so thats standard protocol," said Esquivel, who added that the city has no particular timeline for the complete restoration of disrupted systems and services.

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