State Auditor seeks details on cyberattacks at UMMC, IHL

State Auditor seeks details on. State Auditor seeks details on cyberattacks at UMMC, IHL.

Key points

• Al Rankins, Commissioner of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, on Monday by State Auditor Shad White (R).
• A Mississippi culinary-themed float will parade through Pasadena in the 2027 Rose Parade.
• President Trump welcomes Mississippi's Reeves, other governors to Oval Office for Medicaid announcement.
• Mississippi State Auditor Shad White speaking at the Neshoba County Fair.
• Back in February, the University of Mississippi Medical Center suffered a network breach that caused systems to go down, leading to clinic closures.

State Auditor seeks details on. State Auditor seeks details on cyberattacks at UMMC, IHL. By: Jeremy Pittari – September 22, 2026.

Mississippi State Auditor Shad White speaking at the Neshoba County Fair. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File).

State Senator Nicole Boyd informed Magnolia Tribune that she has confirmed that no taxpayer capital has been applied to pay ransoms in either of the two recent cyberattacks.

In response to two recent cyberattacks on the state's higher education networks, the State Auditor's office is requesting information on whether taxpayer funds was employed to pay any ransoms associated with the hacks.

For context, the notice was sent to Dr. Al Rankins, Commissioner of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, on Monday by State Auditor Shad White (R). The letter comes after two cyberattacks on the networks this year.

Back in February, the University of Mississippi Medical Center suffered a network breach that caused systems to go down, leading to clinic closures. Medical care within the hospitals and emergency rooms was able to continue during the down time. UMMC is part of the University of Mississippi. It is under the IHL.

Most lately, the IHL office confirmed it was affected by a cyberattack on September 7, but notice was not sent to individual institutions until September 10. According to The IHL, institutions were not notified immediately since the "breach was confined to the IHL office and was not a system-wide incident." The Office of Financial Aid, which was impacted, is located within the IHL office.

Notably, the State Auditor's office is now requesting the IHL provide more information on both attacks, such as the actual date of the breaches, the dates when the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services was notified, details on the scope of the attack, if a ransom was paid, and if so, the source of funding applied to pay the ransom, and the aims to address the cybersecurity deficiencies.

"Taxpayers deserve to know what happens to their money and the IHL should be transparent with what happened here, " White stated in the letter.

When contacted for comment, State Senator Nicole Boyd (R) informed Magnolia Tribune that she has confirmed that no taxpayer capital has been applied to pay ransoms in either of the two recent attacks.

"There was no ransom paid using any state tax dollars or anything like that, " Boyd remarked Tuesday.

White has requested the information be presented to his office within 14 days. His letter is shown below. Letter to IHL. RE. CybersecurityDownload. Regarding the Author(s).

Jeremy Pittari is a lifelong resident of the Gulf Coast. Born and raised in Slidell, La., he moved to South Mississippi in the early 90s. Jeremy earned an associate in arts from Pearl River Community College and went on to attend the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned a bachelor's of arts in journalism. A week after Hurricane Katrina, he began an internship as a reporter with the community newspaper in Pearl River County. After graduation, he accepted a full-time position at that news outlet where he covered the recovery process post Katrina in Pearl River and Hancock Counties. For almost 17 years he wrote concerning local administration, education, law enforcement, crime, business and a variety of other topics. Email Jeremy: [email protected].

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In short, state Auditor seeks details on cyberattacks at UMMC, IHL is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.