JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) -Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann formed a Senate select committee to determine next steps for a cybersecurity blueprint for the state of Mississippi.“We are behind. We are way behind,” Sen. Tyler McCaughn, co-chair of the select committee, said.“Unfortunately, the crooks are faster than we are to fix,” Hosemann said.Identifying gaps in reportingPart of the plan is identifying the gaps. The Mississippi Office of Homeland Security sees those gaps first hand.“There is currently a requirement gap when it comes to reporting here in Mississippi,” Bobby Freeman, with the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, said. “State agencies are required by law to report incident to ITS. But when it comes to local government or even critical infrastructure, there’s currently no laws in the book in Mississippi to require that reporting.”A delay in notifying agencies meant to help can mean the difference between an attempted hack and a full-scale ransomware attack.“We’ve seen varying different instance here in the state, some of which we find out weeks after,” Freeman said. “And at that point, a lot of the evidence is just already gone.”Keeping pace with evolving threatsLawmakers say the threats are evolving and they have to find ways to be more nimble in addressing them.“This is very nerdy work, but at the same time, this is very important work,” Sen. Scott DeLano, R-Senate Cybersecurity Select Committee, said. “This landscape is moving so fast it changes almost every single week. The legislative process certainly does not do that, and that’s something that we’re trying to figure out.”A unified approachHosemann said the end goal is a more unified approach.“I’m going to propose that we have a Department of Cybersecurity appointed by the governor, approved by the Senate,” Hosemann said.Hosemann said the public needs to be better informed about cybersecurity issues and said the state needs to prosecute more people breaching the systems.Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.Copyright 2026 WLBT. All rights reserved.
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