By Dina Arévalo
The Monitor, McAllen, Texas
MISSION, Texas — Mission Mayor Norie Gonzalez Garza is asking Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to issue a state of emergency in the wake of a cyberattack that has rocked the citrus city’s police department and other systems.
“The City of Mission, Texas has suffered a cybersecurity incident such that the entire City computer server is at risk of a cyberattack that could release protected personal information, protected health information, civil and criminal records, and/or any and all other data held by the City of mission and all departments within the City,” Gonzalez Garza stated in a Tuesday letter addressed to the governor and posted to the city’s website.
The mayor further stated that the severity of the data breach has required “extraordinary measures” to address, and that the threat may not yet be resolved.
“I am requesting that you declare a state of emergency for (the) City of Mission, Texas , and issue appropriate directives to deal with the emergency,” the letter reads.
“I am asking that successive proclamations be issued and remain in effect until the threat is contained.”
City officials first announced Tuesday that Mission had been targeted by a cyberattack last week.
“On February 28, 2025 , the City of Mission detected a cybersecurity incident where cybercriminals targeted portions of our network,” officials stated.
The city also said it had engaged third-party cybersecurity “experts” to address the cyberattack, but beyond that, little else is known.
Mission City Manager Mike Perez said officials have been advised to keep mum while the city continues to wrangle with the attack.
“We still cannot make any official comment at this point due to outside counsel advice in the situation that we’re in,” Perez said Thursday.
But Perez added that city officials are working with the Texas Department of Emergency Management, as well as outside law enforcement to resolve the matter.
Thus far, Mission has not heard back from the governor’s office.
As for why the city is seeking an emergency declaration from the state, doing so may allow Mission access to better resources to mitigate the effects of the cyberattack.
An emergency declaration would also allow for the temporary suspension of certain statutes, such as the Texas Public Information Act.
“That gives us a little more flexibility as it relates to responding to different requests that are being made, such as open records requests,” Perez said.
Mission isn’t the first city to be targeted by cyberhackers.
In June 2019 , the city of Edcouch reported that its systems were being held hostage by a ransomware attack in which the cybercriminals were demanding a $40,000 bitcoin payoff.
A separate, larger, incident struck Texas just a few months later.
In August 2019, nearly two dozen Texas cities were the victims of a coordinated ransomware attack with a malware variant known as Sodinokibi/REvil, according to the Texas Department Iof nformation Resources.
In 2021, the U.S. Justice Department indicted a Russian national named Yevgeniy Polyanin for carrying out that attack — which at the time prompted Abbott to issue Texas’ first-ever disaster declaration due to a cybersecurity threat.
Polyanin remains at large, according to the FBI.
But cybersecurity remains an increasingly urgent priority.
Last month, Abbott announced a new effort in the fight against cybersecurity threats by declaring the creation of a “Texas Cyber Command center” as an emergency item to be addressed during the current legislative session.
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Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new information.
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