Texas will soon have the “largest state-based cybersecurity department in America” after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law this week.
“Our state is under constant attack by cyber criminals, attacks that occur thousands of times every single second of every single day,” Abbott said in a June 2 press release. “They successfully attacked cities, counties, and government agencies in Texas, from Mission to Muleshoe. That changes today.”
Abbott signed HB 150 in a ceremony at the University of Texas-San Antonio, pledging $135 million to the Texas Cyber Command, according to the release. The command will “protect Texans against cyber threats” by coordinating between San Antonio local, state, and federal agencies.
This “cyber threat intelligence center” will find and fix “weaknesses in state and local government systems,” educating users on “identifying cyber breaches.” It will also coordinate “swift and effective responses to cyber attacks” to create the “gold standard in cybersecurity.”
“Its ultimate mission is to prevent and protect against cyber breaches,” Abbott said in the release. “Working together with the Texas Cyber Command, Texas will be on the path to be a national leader in cybersecurity.”
Cyber attacks “often come from foreign actors” like China, Iran, and Russia, according to Abbott.
In March 2024, ransomware attackers threatened to publish sensitive information from the Tarrant Appraisal District unless officials paid $700,000, as The Dallas Express reported at the time. The deadline passed, and the attackers are believed to have released the information. The incident was reported to the FBI.
A ransomware attack targeted several servers for the City of Dallas in May 2023, as The Dallas Express reported at the time. This led the city to spend at least $8.5 million on recovery. Even before that, a ransomware attack targeted the Dallas Central Appraisal District in 2022, causing the body to pay hackers $170,000 in cryptocurrency.