State Auditor Shad White is investigating cyberattacks that occurred at a pair of public institutions this year.
In a letter penned to Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) Commissioner Dr. Al Rankins Jr., the auditor said his team is looking into a February cyberattack at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and one that occurred at IHL earlier this month.
The UMMC attack lasted nine days and disrupted the hospital’s website, phones, online database, and forced several clinics to suspend operations until systems were restored. The IHL attack affected the agency’s student financial aid office. IHL notably governs UMMC and all public universities in Mississippi.
Specifically, the auditor’s team is looking to uncover when IHL discovered the attacks, when the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services was notified, what systems were affected, whether or not a ransom was requested by the hackers, and if one was paid.
White has also asked the IHL commissioner to provide him with documentation on incident reports, remediation plans, or third-party assessments related to the cyberattacks.
“Taxpayers deserve to know what happens to their money and the IHL should be transparent with what happened here,” a portion of the letter reads. “Please provide this information within 14 days of the date of this letter. If you have any questions or wish to discuss the scope of this request, please contact the State Auditor’s Office at your earliest convenience.”
As for the UMMC cyberattack, officials close to the scene told SuperTalk Mississippi News that a ransom was not paid to those responsible for the disruption to services.
UMMC vice chancellor of health affairs Dr. LouAnn Woodward and state Sen. Nicole Akins Boyd, who chairs the Universities and Colleges Committee, said the hospital system was able to get up and running without taxpayer funds going to hackers.