Dallas suburb working with FBI to address attempted ransomware attack

A large Dallas suburb is dealing with a ransomware attack that has required help from the FBI to resolve.

Richardson — home to about 120,000 people — released a statement saying hackers gained access to government servers on Wednesday morning and attempted to encrypt files on the network. 

“Automated security systems immediately responded, containing the impact to a small number of files,” city officials said. “As a precautionary measure, internal access to City servers has been shut down, currently limiting access to some file systems. The specific type of data compromised is still under assessment, and there is no early indication sensitive data was accessed.”

City Manager Don Magner said the attack is something officials “have been diligently preparing for” and explained that their security protocols appear to have minimized the impact. The city of Dallas faced its own devastating ransomware attack last year. 

Richardson is attempting to recover from Wednesday’s incident by replacing equipment and recovering information from backups. 

“We are doing everything in our power to restore our systems as quickly as possible and will identify resources necessary to assist affected individuals, if necessary,” Magner said. 

The city explained that access to internal information is limited but external essential services like 911, police, online payments, waste services and more are still available. 

The FBI is helping with incident response and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also has been notified. 

The city did not respond to requests for comment about whether the ransomware gang has identified itself or issued a ransom demand. 

In a corresponding FAQ, the city said it is “not identifying the type of program used to access file systems.”

Officials were unable to provide a timeline for when systems will be restored. 

The attack on Richardson is the latest affecting Dallas-area governments. The attack in May 2023 on the city of Dallas, the ninth-largest in the United States, crippled critical systems used by police, firefighters, hospitals and government officials.

In October, systems used by Dallas County — which includes parts of Richardson — were also hit by ransomware, leaking troves of resident data. The nearby governments of Fort Worth and Tarrant County have also dealt with cyberattacks over the last year.