Texas Department of Transportation

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) operates and maintains approximately 80,000 miles of roads across 25 statewide districts, supported by a workforce of over 13,000 employees. As the agency responsible for the full lifecycle of the state highway system - planning, construction, operations, and maintenance - its attack surface is massive and physically distributed: traffic management systems, SCADA-controlled infrastructure, connected vehicle corridors, and a sprawling enterprise IT environment spanning every district office in Texas. For cybersecurity professionals, that means the threat model isn't theoretical. TxDOT manages critical infrastructure that, if compromised, can cause immediate physical consequences - disrupted traffic signals, tampered construction project data, or paralyzed logistics across one of the nation's largest state economies. The scope extends beyond traditional IT into operational technology (OT), where air-gapped assumptions no longer hold and convergence with enterprise networks creates lateral movement opportunities for adversaries. The agency's jurisdiction covers transportation planning, highway construction and maintenance, aviation, rail, and public transit - all sectors where data integrity and system availability aren't just business concerns but public safety imperatives. TxDOT is a state government entity headquartered in Texas, operating under public-sector constraints and standards that shape how security teams budget, hire, and execute.