Cyber Intrusion Disrupts Washington State Court Systems

Court systems across Washington state have experienced outages this week after the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) detected “unauthorised activity” on its network. This potential cyber intrusion has impacted court services in multiple counties, including Thurston, Monroe, Renton, Puyallup, Bainbridge, King, Pierce, Whatcom, and Lewis, as well as various municipal courts.

The AOC confirmed that it took swift action to secure its systems, stating, “We have taken immediate action to secure critical systems and are working to safely restore service.” It cautioned that access to its public website and other systems may be unstable over the next few days as efforts to fully restore services are underway. However, the AOC did not respond to requests for further details on the attack type or whether ransomware was involved. As of Wednesday, the AOC’s website remained offline.

Some county courts have issued statements about service disruptions. Pierce County Superior Court reported minimal impacts and continued normal operations, while Thurston County District Court informed residents that infraction hearings would be rescheduled, waiving the need to appear until a new date is confirmed. Many courts reported outages affecting electronic filing and fine payment systems.

Despite the disruptions, Wendy Ferrell, the AOC’s associate director, assured the public there was no indication of a targeted attack.

This incident follows a series of cyberattacks on court systems across the United States, with states like Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas experiencing ransomware, data leaks, and denial-of-service attacks over the past year. Washington itself has been a significant target in 2024, with cyberattacks hitting major institutions, including a school district, cancer centre, and the Port of Seattle.