WA courts’ online systems down after ‘unauthorized activity
Nov. 4, 2024 at 1:37 pm Updated Nov. 4, 2024 at 4:13 pm
Washington state courts’ online systems were down Monday after officials said they detected “unauthorized activity” on the electronic network. The state courts’ administrative office is working to restore the systems and determine how the network has been impacted, said Wendy Ferrell, associate director for the state Administrative Office of the Courts. In an email Monday, Ferrell said she could not provide details about the outage “for security reasons,” but said state court officials “have no reason to believe that was a targeted attack.” “In an abundance of caution, we proactively took down our systems to secure them and are working around the clock with leading experts to restore services as quickly as possible,” Ferrell said.
The outage is affecting all state court websites, their judicial information systems and “associated services,” Ferrell said.
King County’s superior and district courts are not significantly affected by the outage because they have their own case management systems separate from the state’s, King County District Court Chief Presiding Judge Rebecca C. Robertson said by phone Monday. Municipal courts in cities like Kent, Des Moines, Bothell and Lake Forest Park, which rely on the state’s court system, are “having a harder time,” including needing to limit court hearings and “go back to all paper,” Robertson said.
“We are prepared for at least a week,” Robertson said. “To protect the extremely sensitive data, (state officials) decided to shut everything down and rebuild it.”
Pierce County District Court officials said they would “operate with limited services until further notice” in a news release Monday. Essential hearings and probation appointments will continue, but other hearings and some ongoing trials could be affected, according to the release from the court, which typically handles cases such as probation and traffic infractions.
The outage is expected to continue for “at least the week,” said Pierce County District Court spokesperson Misty Butler Robison in a phone call Monday.
“We are taking it day by day and trying to operate as close to usual, and we’re finding workarounds to get information and to keep things moving forward,” Robison said.
Pierce County Superior Court expects “minimal disruption” and will operate as normal, it said in a news release.
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https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/wa-courts-online-systems-down-after-unauthorized-activity/