Dallas Police Struggling with Evidence Access Because of Ransomware Attack
The ransomware attack initiated by the group Royal on the city of Dallas has stretched into a third week, downing several departments. The city has said it could take weeks or months until services are fully restored.
Dallas police are struggling to access physical and digital evidence amid an ongoing ransomware attack that is disrupting trials.
The consequences played out Thursday in a murder trial, where a man was found guilty despite evidence being unavailable to jurors or lawyers. Last week, a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in another murder trial, where police were unable to produce a phone or shell casings, the Dallas Morning News reports.
The ransomware attack initiated by the group Royal on the city of Dallas has stretched into a third week, downing several departments. The city has said it could take weeks or months until services are fully restored.
Royal threatened Friday that it would leak all the data.
“We will share here in our blog tons of personal information of employees (phones, addresses, credit cards, SSNs, passports), detailed court cases, prisoners, medical information, clients’ information and thousands and thousands of governmental documents,” the post said. As of Friday morning, no city information has appeared on the website, which lists at least several dozen other organizations the group claims to have taken data from, such as the Lake Dallas Independent School District.
The FBI said it can’t confirm whether the website that features the threat against Dallas is authentic.
FBI Dallas said this is typically a tactic used by a group when they haven’t yet received what they wanted, like money. Melinda Urbina, an agency spokeswoman, declined to comment specifically on Dallas’ case other than to say a criminal investigation is ongoing.
“What we always tell people that have been victims of ransomware is to not pay the ransom because there’s never any guarantees that they won’t release data or that they aren’t still in your system,”she told The Dallas Morning News. “You’re trusting a bad guy to be honest with you.”
More Technology

A police agency's guide to data-driven fleet management
Public trust is earned through transparency, and your fleet data can help demonstrate it. This ebook shows how police agencies can use fleet management solutions to strengthen accountability, improve officer safety and responsibly use public funds.
Read More →
FaceTec and Police & Sheriffs Press Announce Law Enforcement UR Code Partnership
FaceTec has partnered with Police & Sheriffs Press to supply secure ID cards to law enforcement agencies. UR Codes to be added to photo IDs in over 6,000 police and sheriff's departments.
Read More →
TOUGHBOOK in Action at the Third Largest County in the Nation – Harris County, TX
Learn how Harris County, one of the nation’s largest counties, modernized its law enforcement fleet with TOUGHBOOK® rugged laptops—strengthening security, productivity, and operational readiness across every unit.
Read More →
How Motorola Solutions’ New “Insights” Platform Helps Public Safety Agencies Identify Trends to Improve Their Operations
Motorola Solutions has introduced Insights, which leverages Assist, its mission-critical artificial intelligence (AI), to address these challenges and shape what’s next for public safety analytics and reporting technology.
Read More →
What Qualifies a Laptop as Rugged or Fully Rugged?
Police officers face a wide range of working conditions that can damage or even destroy a regular consumer laptop. Learn what qualifies a computer as rugged or fully rugged and why those devices are vital for law enforcement.
Read More →
Panasonic Connect Launches the Toughbook 34 and Toughbook G3, Fully Rugged 2-in-1 Mobile Computers
Panasonic Connect has launched the Toughbook 34 and Toughbook G3 to facilitate in-vehicle dispatch, records management, and mobile command operations from any location.
Read More →AI and analytics for law enforcement: Turning data into insights
Law enforcement agencies are managing more video, sensor data and digital evidence than ever before. Discover how AI and analytics can help turn that data into actionable insights that strengthen situational awareness, accelerate investigations and support more informed decisions.
Read More →
Vasco Electronics Adds Automatic Language Detection to Vasco Translator Q1
Vasco Electronics’ software update introduces hands-free language switching and expanded offline translation across 45 language pairs, empowering law enforcement, healthcare, and front-office enterprise teams
Read More →
North Miami Police Department Deploys Mark43
The North Miami Police Department has deployed Mark43 as part of its Five-Year Strategic Plan that represents its collective vision and goals for a more proactive police department, anchored by a core commitment to leveraging modern technology to enhance efficiency and public safety.
Read More →
Cellebrite Genesis for Enterprise Now Generally Available
Made available to the public sector in June, Cellebrite Genesis is serving a growing mix of national, regional, and local agencies worldwide, including some of the largest regional and metropolitan police departments. It is now available for enterprise organizations.
Read More →
