Ransomware disrupts Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana

Early Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office reported a ransomware attack that began around 4:30 a.m. and was detected at 8 a.m., when employees could not access their computers, NOLA.com reported. OPSO, based in New Orleans, Louisiana, said the jail’s computer network runs on a separate server and was not compromised. The IT team is working to restore affected systems and investigate the source of the intrusion, officials said.

The Sheriff’s Office oversees the Orleans Justice Center and the care, custody and control of inmates in the parish. The incident follows a pattern of ransomware activity targeting local governments in the region, including attacks on the City of New Orleans in 2019 and the Orleans Parish Assessor’s Office in 2020. OPSO has also faced scrutiny this year after a high-profile jailbreak, adding operational pressure as the agency responds to the cyber event.