BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Bryan Texas Utilities (BTU) customers continue to experience disruptions from a ransomware attack tied to third-party payment processor BridgePay. It’s six days into the incident, and thousands of customers remain unable to pay their bills online using credit or debit cards.
The outage began on February 6 when BTU’s payment processor became unavailable following a ransomware attack linked to BridgePay, the utility’s third-party vendor. According to BTU’s public information officer, Meagan Brown, the utility service serves about 70,000 customers across the Brazos Valley.
“We do take a lot of personal information when you have your account with BTU, but rest assured, none of that information has been compromised or released,” Brown said.
Brown assures customers’ information is safe.
“Instead of one, two, three, four, five, and all the numbers of your credit card, they’re going to see X’s, or they’re going to see some kind of tokenized little dots where they can’t actually use the information,” Brown said.
What Is Ransomware?
Ransomware is malicious software that infiltrates systems through emails, documents and websites. Once inside, the software encrypts a victim’s data, rendering files into code and making systems unusable without a decryption key.
According to local cybersecurity expert Mary Kate Howard, after bad actors encrypt the data, they’ll usually demand payment, typically in cryptocurrency or Bitcoin, for the decryption key to unlock and restore the files.
“Customers that have a lot of success using their ransomware have a higher grade and might get a discount because, you know, hey, that return on investment for ransomware,” Howard said.
She said once bad actors think they hit the payload, they’ll start encrypting data to try to steal it.
“The data as it is downloaded, as it is stored, it is, for all intents and purposes, jumbled,” Howard said. “And there is a key that says, if it’s how you read it, this is how you cipher it, this is how you can tell what the data actually said. And unless you have that key, that data is useless.”
BTU payment alternatives available
While online credit and debit card payments remain down, BTU has established in-person payment kiosks throughout Bryan. The company said customers can continue to pay by card at all Bryan H-E-B locations, the City of Bryan Development Center drive-thru, and the BTU drive-thru at 2611 N. Earl Rudder Freeway.
Working Toward a Solution
BTU is actively working on backup options to restore business functions and resume accepting credit and debit card payments, both online and in person. The utility company said it’s exploring solutions for both the immediate crisis and long-term prevention.
“There’s already discussions, even while this is ongoing, solutions to fix it now, but then in the future, do we have a backup processor that we can easily switch to? Do we have some other safeguards in place with our third-party contractors to make sure that this doesn’t happen in the future,” Brown said.
Brown indicated the restoration process could take a week or two, though she cautioned that no guarantees can be made at this time.
“A week or two is probably what you’re going to be looking at. Like I said, can’t make any guarantees right now. But restoration sooner rather than later,” Brown said.
BTU customer protections in place
Until the issue is fully resolved, BTU has implemented protections for its customers:
- No late fees
- No penalties
- No service disconnections for non-payment
Additionally, once the issue is resolved, BTU said it is prepared to work with customers who may have difficulty paying bills that accumulated during this ransomware incident. The company has also confirmed that no personal customer information has been leaked or stolen in the attack.
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