“I would go right in and change my financial passwords,” Martin Yarborough said of the attack.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Cybersecurity experts like Martin Yarborough are warning property owners across Tarrant County.
Yarborough said property owners in Tarrant County need to take immediate action after the Tarrant Appraisal District announced it was attacked by hackers with ransomware.
“I'm going to monitor my credit,” Yarborough said. “I'm going to go right away and change the financial passwords I have for my bank accounts and bill payments. I make them very complex.”
According to TAD, someone hacked the agency's systems on March 21, causing the website to crash. They notified the FBI and the Texas Department of Information Resources. This is what happens when people search for their property information on his TAD website. This is the second attack since 2022.
“They likely fell into the same mechanism,” Yarborough said.
Yarborough is a certified ethical hacker and has experience performing security risk assessments and penetration testing. His company conducts risk assessments. Mr. Yarborough is a sought-after speaker on topics ranging from improving efficiency through assessment and educational practices to cybersecurity and disaster recovery.
“I'm surprised there were no safeguards in place to prevent or at least reduce the possibility of ransomware infection,” Yarborough said. “We don't know how the hackers got in because we don't know the details, but it's likely that they got in the same mechanism as last year or two years ago.”
Chandler Crouch represents tens of thousands of Tarrant County property owners during assessment protest season each year. Mr. Crouch is considered an expert on the anti-property tax movement. He addressed the TAD board during an emergency meeting before the board adjourned to learn more about the violation and decide what to do about it. Executive sessions will be held in private.
Mr Crouch said he was concerned about the timing of the new breach, which comes just weeks before the April 15 deadline for TAD to send notices to property owners.
“There are two messages,” Crouch said. “Please reassure us that you are going to make a plan. That's number one. The next thing I would say to them is that we cannot forget because of this situation. About the past. ”
It's a past that is plaguing the appraisal district once again. Either way, Board Chairman Vince Puente believes he can do what is necessary to prepare in April for the first wave of real estate valuation challenges during the protests.
