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Cyberattack Costs Fort Bend County Libraries Millions!
Sep 17, 2025
A cyberattack crippled Fort Bend County's library system, costing taxpayers millions to restore services. Documents reveal the extent of the financial impact and security upgrades. #cyberattack #library #taxes #security #FortBendCounty
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0:00
The Fort Ben County Library System is
0:02
celebrating a relaunch of its services.
0:04
Since March, ABC13 has been telling you
0:06
about issues at the library. Our
0:08
reporting revealing a massive cyber
0:10
attack that crippled the system.
0:12
While people were celebrating the
0:14
relaunch, library leaders made it no
0:16
mention of just how much it really cost
0:18
to get those services restored. ABC13
0:21
Signario got the documents which
0:23
revealed how much it cost taxpayers
0:25
millions of dollars.
0:28
You can't miss a colorful display
0:29
outside of Fort Bang County Libraries
0:31
letting people know the services are
0:33
back online. But in order to make it
0:35
happen, it took a lot of time and money.
0:38
Documents we received show it cost
0:40
taxpayers millions of dollars.
0:43
Fort Bank County wants neighbors to know
0:45
its libraries are back open for
0:47
business. This was the scene at relaunch
0:49
events held at different branches just
0:51
days ago. But the celebration is
0:53
confusing to some.
0:55
I was like, well, I'm hope you're open.
0:56
like what's going on? I didn't know
0:58
y'all were closed even.
0:59
I was confused on why it was um now
1:01
open.
1:02
The libraries weren't closed, but their
1:04
systems were offline for months. In
1:06
February, the library director said a
1:08
cyber incident took place. Emails we
1:11
received revealed what the IT director
1:13
called the largest cyber attack in the
1:15
county's history. Today, Wi-Fi,
1:17
computers, and library card services are
1:19
back to make it happen. We asked how
1:22
much money it took. The documents we
1:24
received show the price tag was nearly
1:26
$6 million.
1:28
I think that's good. I mean, there's a
1:30
lot of taxpayer money going into a lot
1:32
of worse things.
1:33
It's a lot, especially in this economy.
1:35
It's It's a lot.
1:36
The documents we got from the county
1:38
shows how the money was spent. About a
1:40
million dollars went on new equipment,
1:41
$3.8 million on software, and another
1:44
million dollars on new IT personnel. To
1:46
pay for it, the documents show they use
1:48
federal and county tax dollars. Judge KP
1:51
George told ABC13 the cyber attack was a
1:53
major challenge that required a major
1:55
investment. IT experts told us months
1:58
ago this wouldn't be cheap.
2:00
Now there's so much to catch up on that
2:03
it's it's very timeconuming. It's going
2:05
to be expensive.
2:06
Documents we obtained from record
2:08
requests show cyber attackers entered
2:10
through an open system. The emails also
2:12
show library staff had asked for years
2:14
to upgrade its security. We asked how
2:17
much it would have cost to upgrade the
2:18
system before this attack, but the
2:20
library director didn't say. A
2:22
multi-million dollar fix that experts
2:25
say could have been prevented.
2:27
Having routine maintenance completed and
2:29
having that proper cyber security
2:31
hygiene program in place and focusing on
2:35
this would have certainly helped.
2:37
The county didn't just spend millions of
2:39
dollars improving its security. It also
2:42
made changes here at the library. Prior
2:44
to the attack, the library ran its own
2:46
IT department. Now, county officials say
2:49
that the library is under the county IT
2:52
department's umbrella.
2:55
And Nick, before we let you go, you just
2:57
talked about how much money was spent
2:59
rebuilding. What about those relaunch
3:01
parties that you mentioned? Any idea how
3:03
much money was spent there?
3:06
All the libraries had one of these
3:07
relaunch events last week. There was
3:10
food, giveaway, decorations. But we
3:12
asked who paid for all of this. The
3:14
library director told us that some of
3:16
the stuff was donated, but still the
3:17
library ended up spending about $380 on
3:20
these events. relaunch parties that were
3:23
brought on after county IT officials and
3:26
their emails say were years of security
3:29
neglect that led up to that cyber
3:31
Attack.
#Government
#Hacking & Cracking
#Network Security