Ransomware Attack Forces Closure of LA County Courts
On July 22, all 36 courts of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, the largest trial court in the United States, were closed to restore systems following a ransomware attack that occurred on July 19. The Los Angeles Superior Court has over 4,800 employees and operates 36 court buildings in 26 cities within Los Angeles County, serving more than 10 million residents.
The attack, which has not yet been claimed by any known hacker group, affected the entire network of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Both external systems (the MyJuryDuty portal and the court’s website) and internal case management systems were compromised. Many of the court’s systems remain inaccessible. To restore essential networks, the courts were closed for one day. The court is confident that the closure will not exceed one day, as restoration efforts are progressing successfully.
News of the attack surfaced on July 20. At that time, the court reported that the breach began early on July 19. Upon discovering the attack, LASC was compelled to immediately shut down all network systems to contain the breach. The affected devices are likely to remain offline at least until July 23, pending restoration and reconnection to the network.
The court has found no evidence of data compromise on the affected systems. LASC is collaborating with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CALOES), as well as local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, to investigate the incident and assess its impact. It is also noted that the incident is unrelated to the global Windows outage that followed a failed CrowdStrike update.
