Unknown: An unknown attacker has targeted the state of Texas with ransomware which managed to affect more than twenty of their agencies and cities around the state. The type of ransomware was not released nor was there any indication of who would have been behind the attack or how much they are asking for. Officials did report that it is the same strain of ransomware that is targeting all agencies and cities throughout the state. From the evidence that they have been able to gather thus far, it is believed that this was a coordinated attack carried out by one threat actor. Typically, these types of attacks on cities are because they are targets of opportunity that the attacker finds. This is the first time that a string of attacks is being seen attacking multiple cities at once, which gives the officials the feeling that this attack was more targeted rather than opportunistic. The local cities have not stated whether or not they were paying the ransom, but their systems remain offline.
Analyst Notes
If this attack is being done in a targeted manner, there is no explanation or credit being taken at this point. It is possible that an attacker directly targeted the state, carried out the attack, and could move to the next victim of this scale once they get paid or the systems go back online using backups.
