Natchez, Miss. – Adams County automobile owners won’t be able to get their renewed car tags or register their newly bought vehicles while county officials continue to recover from a cyberattack that crashed the county’s IT system in April.
Adams County Tax Collector Terrence Bailey said the cyberattack caused his office to be locked out of the Mississippi Department of Revenue’s Information Technology network required for processing automobile registrations and paying car taxes.
Efforts are underway to fix the software glitch, Bailey said. He noted Hinds County had a similar problem that took about three months to overcome.
Adams County car owners whose annual vehicle taxes and fees are due this month can pay online, but they currently won’t be able to get the license plate decals showing law officers proof they’ve paid, Bailey said. Meeting today with the Adams County Board of Supervisors, Bailey noted car owners who pay their taxes could print out a receipt to have if stopped by police.
Those who just bought a car are completely frozen out. They won’t be able to register their vehicles, pay the owed taxes or get their new license plates until the Adams County tax collector gets back online with the state IT system. Buyers normally have 30 business days to register their vehicles and get their car tags before penalties apply.
Aside from the inability to process car tags, most of Adams County’s IT system is back online after being crippled two weeks ago, said Adams County Administrator Mitzi Conn.
Supervisors today did agree to purchase insurance at a cost of $10,000 to cover the expenses of future cyberattacks. The most recent crash came with a cost of more than $200,000 to buy new computer equipment and install security controls.
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