Texas Creates Its Own Cyber Command Center

Uploaded on 2025-02-13 in FREE TO VIEW, NEWS-Cybersecurity News

The US State of Texas will soon launch a Cyber Command Center to strengthen it’s ability to anticipate, detect and prevent cyber attacks. The Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, announced this launch in his State address at the State Capitol Building in Austin.

Abbott said that in the previous week alone, a city, hospital and prominent business in Texas had been impacted by cyber-attacks. “This happens week after week and it’s increasing. These attacks are coming from places like China, Russia, Iran, and other rogue outlets across the entire globe,” he warned.

Organisations in Texas are a important financial target for cyber criminals and nation state actors as Texas State is the eighth largest economy in the world, produces the largest volume of oil and gas in the US, is home to the most airports of any state and has 15 major military installations.

“We cannot let any more time go by without strongly, robustly, addressing this problem. And that is why I’m calling for an emergency item to create the Texas Cyber Command to better secure our state from cyber-attacks,” the governor added. Abbot's announcement follows a number of high-profile security breaches.

On January 24, Matagorda County municipal government in Texas published a disaster statement after a cyber virus had infiltrated the county’s network via an unauthorised access point, which has disrupted systems.

Last year a ransomware attack targeting the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and compromised the personal and medical information of 1.4 million individuals. The University breach, which occurred sometime in in September 2024, involved data exfiltration and significant disruption to university systems.

The Texas Cyber Command will be headquartered in San Antonio, enabling it to leverage the expertise and resources of the University of Texas San Antonio Campus. The city is a significant cyber security hub in the US and is home to a large number of cyber security experts and companies.

Texas Cyber Command will have a wide range of objectives, including:

Anticipating and detecting potential cyber threats across the state.

Providing incident response preparation, including exercises and pre-attack coordination and planning with critical infrastructure partners.

Defending against, respond effectively to, and mitigate against the effects of cyber-attacks when they occur, working across the state.

Providing subject matter expertise, forensic analysis and other support to conduct post-attack investigations and recovery efforts.

Promoting cyber security awareness, professional training and other workforce-oriented measures

Texas Cyber Command will also work with other state universities, Regional Security Operation Centers, and local, state, and federal agencies to support and enhance the state’s cyber security mission. So far no date has been given for when the Cyber Command is expected to begin its work.

|Statsecoop | Facebook

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