On Monday, December 14, the City Council of Texarkana, Texas approved extending a disaster declaration made by Mayor Bob Bruggeman last week following a ransomware attack on local government computer systems.
A widespread cyberattack made its way through the area recently, causing digital outages in both the cities of Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas.
Last week, Texarkana, Arkansas Mayor Allen Brown announced that both cities’ IT departments were being investigated after a ransomware attack disrupted servers and took down internet feeds.
At this week’s meeting in Texarkana, Texas, the city council approved to extend the Disaster Declaration that was made by Mayor Bob Bruggeman last week.
During the meeting, Bruggeman said that the assessment of the attack’s damage is ongoing. Last week, the local emergency Joint Operations Center stated that 1,400 devices must be checked and cleared and that steady progress was being made. No residents’ personal information is known to have been compromised, and water and 911 emergency services were unaffected by the attack.