Medusa Ransomware Claims University of Mississippi Medical Center Attack

University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) is facing an extortion threat after the Medusa ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the February cyberattack that disrupted hospital operations and forced staff to rely on paper processes and other offline workarounds. The incident affected one of Mississippi’s most critical healthcare providers, with hospitals and emergency departments remaining open while 35 clinic locations were closed; recovery involved assistance from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, and full reopening was reported on March 2.

Medusa later posted on its leak site that it had stolen data from UMMC and demanded $800,000, with a deadline of March 20. Reporting indicates the gang offered multiple extortion options, including paying to delete the data, buying the allegedly stolen information, or paying a smaller amount to extend the deadline. Screenshots were published as purported proof of theft, but UMMC had not confirmed that sensitive patient or enterprise data was actually exfiltrated, and the size and scope of the alleged data set remained unclear at the time of reporting.