Texarkana Water Utility

Texarkana Water Utility, also known as TWU, is a water utility that provides potable water service to residents, businesses, and government entities in Bowie and Miller Counties. Its headquarters is located in the United States of America. As a water utility, its core function is the treatment, distribution, and maintenance of water supply infrastructure essential for public health and safety. The organization operates under the mandate to ensure reliable water delivery to the communities it serves. Its service area encompasses the two counties and the various communities within them.

In late November 2020, the utility experienced a ransomware attack that targeted its internal network. The incident was first identified on 2020-11-26, although analysis indicated that suspicious activity had been present on the network prior to that date. The attack disrupted multiple information technology systems, leading to widespread outages that affected courthouse operations and other BiState agencies reliant on the utility’s network. Despite the disruption to administrative and operational systems, the water treatment and distribution processes continued without interruption, ensuring that water service remained available to customers. The utility confirmed that no personal data was exfiltrated or compromised during the event. Recovery efforts commenced immediately, focusing on repairing affected personal computers and restoring network functionality.

The ransomware incident highlighted the utility’s role as critical infrastructure, where maintaining uninterrupted water delivery is paramount even amid cyber incidents. While the attack caused significant inconvenience and required substantial technical remediation, the continuity of water service demonstrated operational resilience. The full scope of the breach remained under investigation following the incident, with ongoing assessments of system vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies. No further details about the attack’s origin or the specific ransomware variant were disclosed in the available sources. The episode underscored the increasing cybersecurity challenges faced by water utilities nationwide.

The available sources do not provide explicit information regarding the utility’s ownership structure, parent company, or subsidiary relationships. Consequently, details about whether Texarkana Water Utility operates as a municipal entity, a public authority, or under another governance model are not described in the incident reports. Similarly, specifics about workforce size, annual budget, or infrastructure scale are absent from the provided material. Any discussion of those aspects would require additional data beyond what is currently cited.