Critical Infrastructure Security, Incident Response, Threat Intelligence

Cyberattack at Texas county triggers disaster declaration

Red glowing word cyberattack on a black wall surrounded by green random letters cybersecurity concept 3D illustration

Officials at Texas' Matagorda County have issued a disaster declaration following a cyberattack against several of its internal systems last week, which disrupted certain operations, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Only internal Matagorda County systems have been impacted by the incident, which was identified on the morning of Jan. 24 to have stemmed from an "unauthorized access point," said officials, who also noted headway in recovering some of the county's affected online services. Further investigation into the incident, which has not yet been claimed by any threat operation, is still underway. Such a development — which follows similar cyberattack-related disaster declarations at an Indiana county and California city — comes as Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center disclosed having data from over 530,000 individuals, including their names, healthcare details, and Social Security numbers, compromised as a result of an Interlock ransomware intrusion last fall.

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