The Superior Court of Los Angeles County’s Court Technology Services (CTS) Division suffered a ransomware attack on Friday 19 July leading to it having to shut down the Court’s internal systems. This is the largest unified Superior Court in the United States, operating 37 courthouses throughout the county.
The attack began in the early hour of Friday and is believed to be unrelated to the Crowdstrike global IT outage on Friday.
In a statement on Friday evening, the Court said: “Immediately upon discovery of the attack, the Court disabled its network systems to mitigate further
harm. The Court’s network systems will remain disabled at least through the weekend to enable the Court to further remediate the issue.
“The Court is receiving support from the California Governor’s
Office of Emergency Services (CALOES) as well as local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the breach and mitigate its impacts. At this time, the preliminary investigation shows no evidence of court user’s data being compromised.
“Over the past few years, the Court has invested heavily in its cybersecurity operations, modernizing its cybersecurity infrastructure and making strategic staff investments in the Cybersecurity Division within CTS. As a result of this investment, the Court was able to quickly detect an intrusion and address it immediately.”
The vast majority of cases in California begin in a Superior (or trial) court, one of which resides in each of the state’s 58 counties. The courts hear civil and criminal cases, as well as family, probate, mental health and juvenile cases.
We’ll share more information as it becomes available.
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