Fort Bend County Libraries in Texas Hit by Cyberattack

Fort Bend County Libraries, based in Richmond, Texas, experienced a cybersecurity incident in late February that disrupted network services across its system. On February 24, 2025, library staff detected the breach, leading to outages affecting the library's website, catalog, internet access, and eLibrary services. In response, the county’s IT professionals launched mitigation efforts and partnered with cybersecurity experts to investigate the attack. A new website, fortbendlibraries.gov, was launched to restore most online resources, though catalog access and some other services remained offline as of March 12. Officials said there is no evidence that patrons’ personal information, such as names, addresses, and birthdates, was compromised.

Compared to similar incidents, Fort Bend County’s cyberattack has resulted in longer-lasting disruptions than the recent ransomware attack on the Laramie County Library System in Wyoming, where IT staff restored services within hours. However, it appears less severe than the attack on Delaware’s public libraries in September 2024, when hackers from the ransomware group RansomHub demanded a $1 million ransom and shut down internet services statewide. Unlike Delaware, where officials refused to pay the ransom and partnered with Microsoft to rebuild systems, Fort Bend County has opted for an expensive cybersecurity overhaul, approving nearly $2.5 million in IT contracts. The prolonged outage in Texas, coupled with limited transparency from county officials, raises concerns about preparedness and response effectiveness when compared to other library cyberattacks.