The Wise County Sheriff’s Office in Texas said hackers hit its systems twice, leaving staff unable to retrieve records or print incoming public information requests.
The disruption affects a county law enforcement agency in Decatur, northwest of Fort Worth, serving a county with an estimated 2025 population of 83,778, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In a June 22 catastrophe notice filed with the Texas attorney general, the sheriff’s office said “all our systems were hit twice by hackers last week.” The office said it could not access systems for record retrieval or print incoming public information requests.
The notice said logged and saved requests were gone and would have to be rebuilt from sent email files. The office said its systems had not been fully restored and that there was no estimate for restoration.
The first notice covered a suspension period from June 22 through June 28. A second notice extended the suspension from June 29 through July 5.
The sheriff’s office separately warned residents June 23 about scam callers impersonating agency members and demanding payment for supposed warrants or legal issues. The post did not link the calls to the systems disruption, and law enforcement impersonation scams are common without a confirmed breach.
Texas law allows a governmental body to suspend Public Information Act requirements if it is significantly affected by a catastrophe that directly prevents compliance and the body provides proper notice to the attorney general’s office. The attorney general’s office says it posts catastrophe notices online for one calendar year.
The suspension period ended Sunday, but the notices do not say whether systems were restored after July 5.
A search of the Texas attorney general’s public Data Security Breach Reports page did not show a separate breach notice for the Wise County Sheriff’s Office. Texas requires organizations to report breaches affecting 250 or more Texans to the attorney general’s office as soon as practicably possible and no later than 30 days after discovery.
Chip in once
If this reporting helped you, a one-time tip helps cover hosting, tools and future investigations.
Support us monthly
A small monthly pledge keeps independent coverage and our reader tools online for everyone.
The Wise County filing fits a pattern observed in Texas, where some local government cyber disruptions have become clearer through attorney general catastrophe notices than through timely public-facing cyber announcements. In August 2025, Greenville told the attorney general that ransomware had cut off access to police and other records, while Angleton’s notices cited a cybersecurity crime or breach even as public-facing posts described service disruptions as an internet outage.
DysruptionHub emailed the sheriff’s office seeking details about which systems were affected, whether public safety or jail operations were disrupted and whether ransomware or data theft had been ruled out. The office did not respond before publication.
No public claim of responsibility has been identified, and the notices do not specify the nature of the attack, whether data was accessed or whether any ransom demand was made.
The office has faced cyber disruption before. The Wise County Messenger reported in 2014 that CryptoWall ransomware encrypted files on a sheriff’s office server, including videos, photos and forms. WFAA reported at the time that officials believed the attackers were in Eastern Europe. That earlier incident is separate from the 2026 notices.
