AUSTIN, Texas — The Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) is back to normal operations a week after it was taken over by a ransomware attack.
According to a report from KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, TCAD's offices were able to fully restore customer service operations. The offices were hit with a Royal ransomware attack that led the power lines and online chat system to be taken offline.
TCAD does not know if there was a specific ransom demand made because the agency did not communicate with the hacker, according to the report. Ransomware is any software that blocks access to a network or system, typically creating some kind of problem.
TCAD provides appraisal values for all homeowners' properties in the county. The appraisal determines how much a home is worth, leading to the value of taxes and whether or not they will increase.
Despite the ransomware attack, the security protocols within TCAD protected private taxpayer information from being accessed. This allowed the agency to continue the majority of its operations, and property tax bills and payments within the county tax office were unaffected.
The Statesman report said that ransomware attacks have been occurring all across Texas, with one in the Dallas Central Appraisal District in November and one in San Antonio at Rackspace Technology.
To learn more, read the Statesman's full report.