July 22, 2024 at 10:39AM
The largest trial court in the United States, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, closed all 36 courthouse locations on Monday to address a ransomware attack that affected its entire network. The closure is expected to be just one day, with network restoration efforts ongoing. The attack is being investigated by law enforcement and emergency services.
The Superior Court of Los Angeles County experienced a ransomware attack, forcing the closure of all 36 courthouse locations to restore affected systems. The attack impacted both external and internal network systems, with certain critical systems remaining inaccessible as of Sunday evening. The court announced an additional closure on Monday to focus on restoring essential networks. It is stated that the closure is not anticipated to exceed one day, with efforts ongoing to overcome obstacles. The incident, which began on Friday, is unrelated to the worldwide outage impacting Windows systems after a faulty CrowdStrike update. The court confirmed its collaboration with law enforcement agencies to investigate the incident and assess its impact. Despite the cyber-attack, there is no evidence that compromised data from the breach systems. It was also emphasized by Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner that efforts are focused on restoration, recovery, and future network stability and security. It’s worth noting that the Superior Court has a significant personnel count of over 4,800 employees and serves a population of over 10 million in the County of Los Angeles. Additionally, historical information about a prior hacking incident in 2017 involving LASC’s computer systems and the subsequent legal proceedings was provided.