As one of the largest information technology service providers to local governments, the cyber-attack on Tyler Technologies (Tyler) in Plano, Texas is a sobering reminder of how a cyber-attack on a third-party vendor can put government data at risk.

According to reports, Tyler may have been the victim of a ransomware attack that disrupted its internal network and telephone systems. Its corporate website was deactivated and the company was working on getting it back online. Tyler sent a message to its clients indicating that it “has no reason to believe that any client data, client servers, or hosted systems were affected” and that it is working with forensic investigators and law enforcement to investigate the incident.

The company provides software to local governments for enterprise resource planning, scheduling court hearings, collecting fines, payment of bills, managing open-data programs and sharing election data.

Security experts are recommending that any customers of Tyler complete a hard reset of passwords that Tyler technicians use to access their systems.

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