HACKED

Texas Officials: 22 Cities Affected by Ransomware

Officials have not identified who or what was behind it, but said signs pointed to a single actor.

Texas state officials say hackers have infiltrated the computer systems of nearly two dozen towns and demanded ransom, NPR reports. A total of 22 municipalities were hit in the ransomware attack, with the mayor of one town saying the culprits demanded a collective ransom of $2.5 million. According to NPR, the infiltration began Friday morning and has been found in mainly smaller governments—but officials have not confirmed what specific cities have been affected. The cities of Borger and Keene have independently claimed they had been a victim of the breach, with Keene Mayor Gary Heinrich telling NPR the hackers got into the city’s “software provider,” which is run by an outside third party. “A lot of folks in Texas use providers to do that, because we don't have a staff big enough to have IT in house,” he said, adding that hackers demanded a total of $2.5 million in ransom. State officials have not confirmed the ransom amount. The Texas Department of Information Resources said evidence pointed to a single actor being behind the attack, though investigators have not found who or what is behind it. Department spokesman Elliott Sprehe said he was not aware of any of the cities paying ransom.