Computer fraud; amend provision to mirror federal, criminal elements.

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To: Judiciary, Division B
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Senator(s) Williams

SENATE BILL NO. 2321

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-45-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO 1
MIRROR CERTAIN ELEMENTS OF FEDERAL COMPUTER FRAUD; TO CRIMINALIZE 2
THE UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS OF A COMPUTER; TO CRIMINALIZE THE ACCESS 3
OF A PROTECTED COMPUTER WITH INTENT TO DEFRAUD AND GAIN A THING OF 4
VALUE; TO CRIMINALIZE THE ACCESS OF A COMPUTER WITH INTENT TO 5
DEFRAUD AND TRAFFIC PASSWORDS; TO CRIMINALIZE THE TRANSMISSION OF 6
COMMUNICATION TO EXTORT FROM ANY PERSON ANY MONEY OR OTHER THING 7
OF VALUE; TO DEFINE CERTAIN TERMS RELATED TO COMPUTER FRAUD; AND 8
FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 9
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 10
SECTION 1. Section 97-45-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 11
amended as follows: 12
97-45-3. (1) Computer fraud is the accessing or causing to 13
be accessed of any computer, computer system, computer network or 14
any part thereof with the intent to: 15
(a) Defraud; 16
(b) Obtain money, property or services by means of 17
false or fraudulent conduct, practices or representations; or 18
through the false or fraudulent alteration, deletion or insertion 19
of programs or data; * * * 20
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(c) Insert or attach or knowingly create the 21
opportunity for an unknowing and unwanted insertion or attachment 22
of a set of instructions or a computer program into a computer 23
program, computer, computer system, or computer network, that is 24
intended to acquire, alter, damage, delete, disrupt, or destroy 25
property or otherwise use the services of a computer program, 26
computer, computer system or computer network * * *; 27
(d) Access a computer without authorization or exceed 28
authorized access, and thereby obtain: 29
(i) Information contained in a financial record of 30
a financial institution, or of a card issuer as defined in 15 31
U.S.C. § 1602(n), or contained in a file of a consumer reporting 32
agency on a consumer, as such terms are defined in the Fair Credit 33
Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.); 34
(ii) Information from the state, political 35
subdivision of the state, or the United States government; or 36
(iii) Information from any protected computer; 37
(e) Defraud, accesses a protected computer without 38
authorization, or exceeds authorized access, and by means of such 39
conduct furthers the intended fraud and obtains anything of value, 40
unless the object of the fraud and the thing obtained consists 41
only of the use of the computer and the value of such use is not 42
more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) in any one-year 43
period; 44
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(f) Defraud, traffics (as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1029) 45
in any password or similar information through which a computer 46
may be accessed without authorization; or 47
(g) Extort from any person any money or other thing of 48
value, transmits any communication containing any: 49
(i) Threat to cause damage to a protected 50
computer; 51
(ii) Threat to obtain information from a protected 52
computer without authorization or in excess of authorization or to 53
impair the confidentiality of information obtained from a 54
protected computer without authorization or by exceeding 55
authorized access; or 56
(iii) Demand or request for money or other thing 57
of value in relation to damage to a protected computer, where such 58
damage was caused to facilitate the extortion. 59
(2) Whoever commits the offense of computer fraud when the 60
damage or loss or attempted damage or loss amounts to a value of 61
less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) may be punished, upon 62
conviction, by a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars 63
($1,000.00), or by imprisonment for not more than six (6) months 64
in the county jail, or by both, if the court finds substantial and 65
compelling reasons why the offender cannot be safely and 66
effectively supervised in the community, is not amenable to 67
community-based treatment, or poses a significant risk to public 68
safety. If such a finding is not made, the court shall suspend 69
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the sentence of imprisonment and impose a period of probation not 70
exceeding one (1) year or a fine of not more than One Thousand 71
Dollars ($1,000.00), or both. Any person convicted of a third or 72
subsequent offense under this subsection where the value of the 73
property is not less than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), shall be 74
imprisoned in the Penitentiary for a term not exceeding three (3) 75
years or fined an amount not exceeding Two Thousand Dollars 76
($2,000.00), or both. 77
(3) Whoever commits the offense of computer fraud when the 78
damage or loss or attempted damage or loss amounts to a value of 79
One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or more, but less than Five 80
Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), may be punished, upon conviction, by 81
a fine of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or by 82
imprisonment for not more than five (5) years, or by both such 83
fine and imprisonment. 84
(4) Whoever commits the offense of computer fraud when the 85
damage or loss or attempted damage or loss amounts to a value of 86
Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or more, but less than 87
Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00), may be punished, upon 88
conviction, by a fine of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars 89
($10,000.00) or by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years, 90
or by both such fine and imprisonment. 91
(5) Whoever commits the offense of computer fraud when the 92
damage or loss or attempted damage or loss amounts to a value of 93
Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25.000.00) or more, may be 94
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punished, upon conviction, by a fine of not more than Ten Thousand 95
Dollars ($10,000.00) or by imprisonment for not more than twenty 96
(20) years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 97
(6) * * * As used in this section, the following terms shall 98
have the meaning ascribed herein: 99
(a) "Computer" means an electronic, magnetic, optical, 100
electrochemical, or other high speed-data processing device 101
performing logical, arithmetic, or storage functions, and includes 102
any data storage facility or communications facility directly 103
related to or operating in conjunction with such device, but such 104
term does not include an automated typewriter or typesetter, a 105
portable hand-held calculator, or other similar device; 106
(b) "Computer network" includes the internet, as 107
defined in Section 230 of Title II of the Communications Act of 108
1934, Chapter 652, 110 Stat. 137, codified at 47 * * * USC § 109
230 * * *; 110
(c) "Damage" means any impairment to the integrity or 111
availability of data, a program, a system, or information; 112
(d) "Exceeds authorized access" means to access a 113
computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or 114
alter information in the computer that the accessor is not 115
entitled so to obtain or alter; 116
(e) "Financial institution" has the meaning assigned in 117
18 USC § 1030(e)(4); 118
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ST: Computer fraud; amend provision to mirror
federal, criminal elements.
(f) "Loss" means any reasonable cost to any victim, 119
including the cost of responding to an offense, conducting a 120
damage assessment, and restoring the data, program, system, or 121
information to its condition prior to the offense, and any revenue 122
lost, cost incurred, or other consequential damages incurred 123
because of interruption of service; 124
(g) "Political subdivision" has the meaning assigned in 125
Section 11-46-1(i); 126
(h) "Protected computer" means a computer: 127
(i) Exclusively for the use of a financial 128
institution, the state, a political subdivision of the state, or 129
the United States government, or, in the case of a computer not 130
exclusively for such use, used by or for a financial institution, 131
the state, a political subdivision of the state, or the United 132
States government and the conduct constituting the offense affects 133
that use by or for the financial institution, the state, a 134
political subdivision of the state, or the United States 135
government; or 136
(ii) That: 137
1. Is part of a voting system regulated under 138
Article 15, Chapter 15, Title 23, Mississippi Code of 1972; and 139
2. Is used for the management, support, or 140
administration of a state, local, or federal election. 141
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from 142
and after July 1, 2026. 143