Against advice of board attorney and feds David Archie reveals how much Hinds County paid hackers after cyberattack

pJACKSON Miss WLBT Hinds County Supervisor David Archie revealed how much officials paid hackers after a cyberattack crippled county services for weeks against the advice of the boards attorney and federal investigators with Archie arguing taxpayers have a right to know whats going on with their tax dollarsppThe information came out during Mondays public meeting of the Hinds County Board of SupervisorsppFour supervisors voted to approve more than 400000 to a company to help repair the damage done to Hinds Countys computer systemsppArchie left the room during the voteppHe said the company will be paid more than a million in all for the work but says hes never seen a contract from them or what that money will specifically addressppArchie also cited an amount the county paid those Hinds County hackers 250000 to 300000 causing board attorney Tony Gaylor to slam his hand down on his seat in frustrationppThey can ask us to not have this conversation But theres no statute and theres no laws to prevent us from having this conversation Archie said And I wanted to educate the citizens of Hinds County in terms of what is going on with their tax dollars Thats my main concernppBoard President Vern Gavin said Archies numbers were wrong and said disclosing any amount can put the county at risk of a future attackppWhen you do that you are pretty much laying the foundation for other attackers to come or you also jeopardize your ability to negotiate in a settlement Gavin saidppArchie also questioned a decision in that same meeting to rescind 6 million from what would have been Jackson water repairs back to the county claiming the money would be spent on deals that would benefit the three supervisors who approved it Gavin Credell Calhoun and Bobcat McGowanppHe did not offer any proof of that howeverppMcGowan told the board Monday that the six million would be used as follows 2 million for cyberattack prevention efforts 15 million toward renovations for the Jackson planetarium 15 million to purchase new public works equipment and 1 million to repave roads in McGowans districtppArchie said one of those requests was illegalppWhen Supervisor McGowan made the first motion he made the motion to buy equipment State laws tell you that no supervisor can vote to buy any new equipment in the last six months of their term then they changed it to buying computers Archie said We dont know where their money is going Nobody knows where their money is goingppWant more WLBT news in your inbox Click here to subscribe to our newsletterppSee a spelling or grammar error in our story Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your emailppCopyright 2023 WLBT All rights reservedp