TCAD hit by ransomware (again)

The Travis Central Appraisal District announced Monday that it has been hit once again with a ransomware attack that is impacting the agency’s level of service. The district works to appraise property for tax purposes for each taxing unit in the county. The TCAD website had a notice Monday afternoon letting people know that the agency’s phone lines and chat function were down. However, TCAD chief appraiser Marya Crigler said the online property search function and email were operating. Property tax bills and payments to the Travis County tax office were not affected by the TCAD problem. TCAD spokesperson Cynthia Martinez confirmed that the agency had previously been hit by ransomware in 2019. She said via email, “We have since adopted numerous security measures that are allowing us to continue our operations and assure property owners that their personal information was not accessed during this attack. It may take longer than usual for property owners to have their TCAD-related issues addressed while we recover from this situation. We appreciate their patience.”