Cyber Attack Shuts Down L.A. Courthouses

The Los Angeles County court system was forced to shut down all 36 of its courthouses on Monday after a ransomware attack invaded the city's judicial network. The attack comes a week after an unrelated software update by Crowdstrike led to a global outage that affected much of Europe and sent airlines and bank systems into techonological chaos.

“The Court experienced an unprecedented cyber-attack on Friday which has resulted in the need to shut down nearly all network systems in order to contain the damage, protect the integrity and confidentiality of information and ensure future network stability and security,” said Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner in a statement released late Sunday night (July 21).

Jessner's statement did not address who was behind the attack or whether Los Angeles County officials paid any ransom. The hack was first detected on Friday and it infiltrated network operations that “span the Court's entire operation, from external systems such as the MyJuryDuty Portal and the Court's website to internal systems such as the Court's case management systems,” the court said.

Hundreds of cases were put on hold.

"The Court recognizes the significance of a court closure on the communities it serves and the mission it abides by, however, it is essential that judicial officers and court staff are able to work in an environment that is safe and secure and with the information they need to meet the Court’s mission at their disposal," Jessner wrote.

Tech security expert Ray Kelly from Synopsys Software Integrity Group said hackers are increasingly targeting public services to "maximize the impact of impact of their breaches on everyday citizens," which, he added, puts "immense pressure" on local governments to pay up.

"While details on how this breach occurred are not available, such incidents typically result from email phishing attempts by malicious actors," Kelly said. "Humans are frequently considered 'the weakest link' when it comes to cybersecurity. However, comprehensive phishing training for employees can significantly reduce these risks and help prevent the spread of ransomware.”