The Dallas Central Appraisal District’s (DCAD) systems are still down, two weeks after a ransomware attack took them offline on Election Day.
The attack disrupted DCAD’s computer system, servers, email, and website.
DCAD is responsible for appraising property in Dallas County for tax purposes and publishing the data. The organization posted on its Facebook page:
“Early Tuesday morning, 11-8-2022, The Dallas Central Appraisal District (DCAD) became the victim of a ransomware attack. As a result, the DCAD computer system, servers, email and website are down. DCAD is working with the IT security vendor and the authorities to resolve and remedy this issue. We do not currently have a definite timeframe but expect it may take several days to rectify the system. We have followed the advice of authorities and have not contacted the perpetrator(s).”
A few hours later, the organization added another post on Facebook:
“Although the Dallas CAD website is currently down, you can use the State Comptroller’s Property Tax Transparency website to see ownership and values. Click on…the link below then search for ‘Dallas County’ where it says ‘Find your county’s website’ to see property information.”
DCAD spokeswoman Cheryl Jordan recently told The Dallas Morning News that there are no updates on the status of the attack, and they are working around the clock to get the systems repairs up and running.
Jordan also said the office has no timeline for when the situation is expected to be resolved.
Visiting DCAD’s website brings up an error page stating, “Error 1001 DNS resolution error.”
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, cyber attacks targeting governmental entities appear to be on the rise. In September, federal law enforcement warned that ransomware attacks on school systems were likely to increase. Hospitals and healthcare facilities have also become targets of malicious actors.
In the commercial IT world, which I have been part of for over 40 years, this is absolutely uncalled for. It is one thing to be breached, but not to have full backups off line to be restored when this happens is beyond belief in this day and age. Being breached is a terminatable offense, imo, not to have backups that can be restored in a few hours or at worst a couple of days should lead to the termination of IT staff and management. Of course we the taxpayers are going to have to pay for this through our taxes.