Louisiana has been in cybersecurity emergency for years | Local Politics
Louisiana has been in cybersecurity emergency for years | Local Politics
Publish Date: 2026-01-02 10:12:00
Source Domain: www.nola.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. Throughout Gov. Jeff Landry’s first term, Louisiana has been under a state of emergency for cyberattacks as hackers continuously barrage government agencies throughout the state.On Dec. 23, Landry again renewed a state of emergency that was first issued by his predecessor, former Gov. John Bel Edwards, in 2023.“There have been severe, intentional cybersecurity breaches of public entities throughout the State of Louisiana,” Landry wrote in the renewal order.The state of emergency allows government officials — particularly those in the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, which leads the response to cyberattacks — to suspend procurement and public bidding laws when necessary to respond to or prevent breaches.
State officials have said for years that they are under more or less perpetual attack from hackers trying to access sensitive information or halt essential services, then seek a ransom to restore them.The year Edwards first issued the state of emergency was a particularly harsh one for LouisianaThat February, a cyberattack crippled Southeastern Louisiana University’s computer system for weeks, knocking out email, the university website, and the system that many classes used to share documents and take tests.
Then, in June 2023, hackers breached MOVEit, a file-sharing system used by the state’s Office of Motor Vehicles and other clients around the world. At least 6 million records were exposed, including information from every Louisiana resident who got a driver’s license, ID or car registration.
There have been a slew of incidents since then, including multiple major attacks in 2025.
Last January, hackers breached PowerSchool, an education software program used by students in Ascension, Livingston and St. Charles Parish school districts — and more than 60 million students in total. The incident exposed information like names, addresses, contact information and Social Security numbers, but the compromised data was eventually deleted, the company that runs PowerSchool said.In September, the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office was hit, interfering with processing bail, disrupting court proceedings and causing other problems. A ransomware group called Qilin took responsibility for the attack, saying it stole more than 840 gigabytes of data.
In October, a “cyberincident” locked users out of START and K-12 Start, state-run education savings accounts that help families save for college or private school tuition. About 88,000 active savings accounts held more than $1.8 billion at the time, but parents and students weren’t able to withdraw money for more than a week.Louisiana is far from the only state that has had to take extraordinary measures to combat cyberattacks.
In July, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard in response to an attack that forced the city of St. Paul to shut down most of its computer systems.
In November, the University of Pennsylvania fell victim to a cyberattack that exposed the information of students, donors and alumni. The hacker in that case used university addresses to send profanity and slur-laden mass emails criticizing the university.
