A cybersecurity breach in Greenville has affected the city’s ability to access police and other records.
The city’s servers were attacked by a ransomware group on Aug. 5.
“Upon identification, the City immediately implemented protective measures, isolated affected systems where appropriate, contacted law enforcement and engaged a third-party cybersecurity firm to mitigate the event and restore services,” the city said in a news release.
Greenville’s emergency 911 service was not affected and remains in operation, however, some phone lines may experience intermittent outages or busy signals, the city said.
Greenville Electric Utility System (GEUS), the city’s utilities provider, was impacted and currently cannot accept online payments and access to billing information.
"They have paused shutoffs for the time being and they’re not doing any late fees,” said Daniel Starks, communications manager for the city. “What they’re allowing residents to do is pay in person.”
Residents who over-pay will get credit on their next bill and if they under-pay, they will be charged for the rest of it in the next bill, he said.
There is no evidence that information belonging to employees or residents was affected by the breach, according to the city’s statement.
Greenville filed a catastrophe notice with the Texas Attorney General’s office, noting it will not be able to respond to approximately 20 Public Information Act requests until access to records is restored. “They may be available as early as tomorrow (8.26.2025) but it may still be weeks until the files are accessible,” the notice reads.
Ransomware attacks on city governments have become more common in recent years. The city of Dallas spent millions of dollars for more cybersecurity after it was hit in 2023 by an attack that froze its systems for weeks and compromised the personal data of more than 30,000 residents.
Last year a ransomware group demanded $700,000 from the Tarrant County Appraisal District before hackers posted private taxpayer data to the dark web.
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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