The city of Fort Worth, Texas, says it was targeted by hackers in retaliation against the state's stance on sex-change treatments.
City officials revealed that a group of hackers gained unauthorized access to an internal information system used by workers to manage maintenance activities, posting stolen data from the site to Telegram and Twitter along with a message attacking Texas for its policies on transgender treatments.
"We have decided to make a message toward the U.S. Government," the hackers said. "Texas happens to be one of the largest states banning gender-affirming care and for that we have made Texas a target."
The attack came after Texas this month banned sex-change treatments for minors. "Children in Texas are officially protected from harmful, experimental medical and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria," said state representative Tom Oliverson (R.), a supporter of the bill, after Gov. Greg Abbott (R.) signed the legislation on June 2.
Fort Worth confirmed that the information the hackers obtained originated from the city's computer systems, but "not from the city's public-facing internet website."
The city's chief technology officer said the data came from a website that "workers use to manage their maintenance activities" and that there was no indication of unauthorized access to any other systems and no evidence suggesting sensitive information was compromised.
Fort Worth said it believes the hacker group SeigeSec is behind the attack. Last year, the group declared a campaign to target pro-life government bodies and groups with cyber attacks in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.