The state of Kansas has begun the process of restoring its case management computer system after it was shut down due to a cyberattack from a foreign source. This also resulted in the suspension of public access to documents and other systems. The announcement was made by the judicial branch on Thursday.

The court management systems for district courts in 28 of the 105 counties in the state are projected to resume functioning by Monday, with the remaining counties expected to follow suit by the end of the week. Public access to court documents will be reinstated after that, although counties that have resumed online operations will also have the option to provide access through court terminals at their courthouses, as stated by the judicial branch.

The judicial system has implemented methods for individuals to obtain marriage licenses and submit electronic requests for protection orders against abuse, stalking, and human trafficking.

The seven justices of the Kansas Supreme Court, who are responsible for managing the state’s court system, revealed that the judicial branch was targeted by a “complex cyberattack from a foreign source” last month. The criminals behind the attack stole data and issued a threat to release it on a hidden website unless their demands were fulfilled, according to the justices.

Judicial branch representatives have not made the hackers’ requests public, nor have they revealed if a ransom was given or the amount of money spent on restoring judicial branch systems. When asked about a ransom on Thursday, judicial branch spokesperson Lisa Taylor directed to the statement released last month.

“Restoring our district court case management system is a much-anticipated milestone in our recovery plan, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert said in a statement Thursday.

All but one of the 104 counties in the state were affected by the outages. The only exception was Johnson County, the most populous county in the Kansas City area. This county operates its own systems and is not expected to transition to the state’s systems until next year.

At first, the court referred to the event as a “security incident,” however, experts in cybersecurity noted that it closely resembled a ransomware attack based on the limited information provided by court officials.

Due to the extended period of downtime, courts in the impacted areas have reverted to accepting paper filings. Officials from the judicial branch have acknowledged that it may take several weeks for all of the filings since the shutdown on October 12 to be logged electronically.

After the district courts have completed their tasks, the electronic filing and case management systems for the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court will be restored.

The state’s court system underwent a risk evaluation in February 2022, which is legally considered “permanently confidential” according to state law. The same applies to the risk assessment conducted in June 2020.

In a recent meeting, state Representative Kyle Hoffman, who heads the Legislature’s information technology committee, informed reporters that the findings of the 2020 audit were concerning. However, he did not share any specifics. He also mentioned that the 2022 audit revealed significant progress, but did not provide any further information.

Two recent evaluations of different state organizations uncovered vulnerabilities in their cybersecurity systems. The most recent assessment, published in July, noted that the leaders of the agency were not aware of or did not adequately prioritize their responsibilities in regards to IT security.

Source: wral.com