The Tarrant Appraisal District announced Monday that it was facing a $700,000 demand following a ransomware attack.
Medusa, the group suspected of the attack, has previously used extortion and the threat of selling sensitive information on the dark web as a tactic to negotiate, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency.
The district’s legal council, Lindsay B. Nickle said the appraisal district was not able to determine if any “sensitive” taxpayer information had been compromised.
So what sensitive information might these attackers have?
According to the appraisal district, not much.
Chief Appraiser Joe Don Bobbitt told the Star-Telegram Tuesday that a majority of the data the district keeps on file is “sales data” and property details such as square footage, tax deeds or the year a property was sold, almost all of it public information.
The appraisal district also keeps tabs on birthdays so it can apply the over 65 homestead exemption when necessary.
Social security numbers are not not among data collected by the district and only on rare occasion are driver’s licenses kept on file, a TAD spokesperson said.
Most of the data on taxpayers collected by the district is recorded from the homestead exemption applications, which contain the address, marital status and deed filing information.
The district sets property appraisals and administers exemptions for tax purposes. Value notices are scheduled to be sent in April.
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