Tag Archive for: Courts

Courts service “PWNED” in Australia, as hackers steal sensitive recordings of hearings

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Hackers are believed to have successfully accessed several weeks’ worth of sensitive video and audio recordings of court hearings, including one made at a children’s court where the identities of minors are supposed to be particularly critical to protect.

The ransomware attack happened on the computer systems of Victoria’s Court Service in Australia, and is believed to have extended from 1 November 2023 until the network compromise was detected nearly two months later on 21 December.

The first that staff knew about the issue was when they were locked out of the PCs in the run-up to Christmas, with messages reading “YOU HAVE BEEN PWNED” appearing on their computer screens.

Media reports describe how staff were directed to instructions that pointed them to the dark web in order to make ransom payments if they did not want stolen data to be published.

Court Services Victoria (CSV) declared to share details of who might be responsible for the cybersecurity breach, but commentators have pointed the finger of suspicion at the Qilin (also known as Agenda) ransomware-as-a-service group.

However, at the time of writing, the latest claimed victim announced on Qilin’s extortion blog is Serbian energy company EPS – reportedly hit by a ransomware attack before Christmas.

In an FAQ published on its website, CSV shared some limited details of its “cyber incident” which saw unauthorized access to its audio-visual in-court technology network, and admitted that it was possible that some hearings before 1 November are also affected – including the children’s court case which was held in October 2023.

Amongst those hit were the the Supreme Court, with recordings from the Court of Appeal, the Criminal Division, the Practice Court, and two regional hearings in November potentially accessed.

“Maintaining security for court users is our highest priority.  Our current efforts are focused on ensuring our systems are safe and making sure we notify people in hearings where recordings may have been accessed,” said CSV CEO Louise Anderson. “We understand this will be unsettling for those who have been part of a hearing.  We recognise and apologise for the distress that this may cause people.”

No other court systems…

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A security problem has taken down computer systems for almost all Kansas courts

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Computer systems for almost all of Kansas’ courts have been offline for five days because of what officials call a “security incident,” preventing them from accepting electronic filings and blocking public access to many of their records.

Judicial branch officials still don’t know the extent of the problem or how long the computer systems will remain offline, spokesperson Lisa Taylor said Tuesday. The problem, discovered Thursday, meant the systems haven’t been able to accept electronic filings, process payments, manage cases, grant public access to records, allow people to file electronically for protection-from-abuse orders and permit people to apply electronically for marriage licenses.

Divorced parents who are supposed to receive child support from their ex-spouses are likely to see delays in the processing of their payments, the state Department for Children and Families also announced Tuesday.

The problems don’t affect courts in Johnson County in the Kansas City area, the state’s most populous county, because it operates its own computer systems. But state Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert last week directed the courts in the state’s 104 other counties to accept paper filings and filings by fax or mail, suspending a requirement that attorneys file electronically.

Wisconsin’s court system reported an attack by hackers in March, a cybersecurity threat briefly forced Alaska’s courts offline in 2021, and Texas’ top criminal and civil courts were hit with a ransomware attack in 2020. The International Criminal Court also reported what it called a “cybersecurity incident” in September.

But Taylor said Kansas court officials do not yet know whether its “security incident” was a malicious attack.

“It’s not just one system. It’s multiple systems that are all interconnected,” she said. “We’ve got the electronic filing, which is separate from the case management system, yet they they are connected in some way.”

Because courts have in recent years been keeping only digital copies of many records, those records won’t be accessible to the public with computer systems down, Taylor said.

A joint legislative committee that examines state…

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Alleged ransomware attack disrupts Kansas courts

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Kansas had its court systems impacted by outages last week, which Judge Philip Journey of Sedgwick County attributed to a ransomware attack although no further details regarding the intrusion have been provided, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

Several issues affecting the state’s e-filing system, protection order portal, appellate case system, attorney state registry, district court public access portal, case management system, and online marriage license application system were initially discovered on Oct. 12, said the Supreme Court, which has been continuing operations with the temporary use of paper records.

“We continue to serve our communities, but we are using different methods until our systems are restored,” said Chief Justice Marla Luckert, who added that an investigation into the incident is already underway.

Such an attack comes after the Regional Justice Information System leveraged by Kansas, Illinois, and Missouri counties was reported to be taken down by a cyberattack last month.

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Kansas courts to operate on paper for at least 2 weeks, judge says ransomware attack may be to blame

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Kansas Judge Phil Journey confirms there has been an “unauthorized incursion” into the brand-new statewide computer system and it will be down for at least two weeks, affecting all Kansas state courts …

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