Ransomware Attack Forces Mississippi City to Shut Down Systems

The city of Vicksburg, Mississippi has shut down its computer systems following a ransomware attack, Mayor Willis Thompson confirmed in a statement to residents. The mayor said emergency services have not been impacted, but utility payment systems have been affected. He described the shutdown as temporary and assured residents that no services will be cut off and no late payment penalties will apply while the investigation continues.

Thompson said the city is working with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, state officials, and private cybersecurity experts to recover from the incident. A key focus of the investigation is determining whether personal or confidential data belonging to customers, contractors, vendors, employees, or business partners was accessed. The city has not yet made a final determination on what, if any, data was compromised, and has declined to share technical details that could interfere with the investigation or ongoing recovery efforts.

This incident follows other recent ransomware attacks in Mississippi, including one against the University of Mississippi Medical Center that left the state's largest hospital system offline for weeks, as well as attacks on a major electricity utility and a county government in prior years.