KILLEEN, Texas — Editor's Note: The attached video aired on Aug. 8.
The Aug. 7 security breach that affected City of Killeen internal systems has not resulted in any personal data of citizens to be compromised, according to a report from the city.
In addition to no personal data being compromised, the city says all of their servers were fully restored within a week, and the nearly 1,200 desktops and laptops that were part of the city's property were not affected by the cyber security intrusion.
The city says in total, the network outage lasted roughly 36 hours, and the ransomware operation happened after BlackSuit Ransomware accessed the city's systems in July 2024 through a virtual private network (VPN) account and began encrypting files the day the breach occurred and was reported.
"Council support is what saved us," said Willie Resto, Killeen's Executive Director of Information Technology, in an update on Tuesday. "These backups enabled us to recover without paying a ransom. My job is safeguarding operational systems to ensure business functions without disruptions."
Resto says that the city spent about $37,000 in budgeted funds in total for a forensic audit and software repairs. A presentation on the matter was also provided, which can be viewed by going to the city's website here.