During a routine scan, the Administrative Office of the Courts discovered that hackers used ransomware to get a hold of several digital files within Georgia’s court system.
What We Know:
- Authorities say that a note was found requesting contact, but didn’t contain any further details such as amounts or demands. The Georgia Technology Authority started working alongside the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, to resolve the problem.
- Courts spokesman Bruce Shaw said, “Our systems have been compromised, so we have quarantined our servers and shut off our network to the outside.” He also said that they might be dealing with Ryuk, a virus that often comes with Emotet and TrickBot backpacking on it. The Emotet gets delivered in a phishing email and is disguised as a fake Microsoft Word document. Once opened, TrickBot is released.
- Cyber expert Greg Evans told CBS46 the hackers could have gained access to the court’s system well before the ransomware was discovered.
- In 2018, the Atlanta City digital systems were attacked by ransomware causing the municipal court system to be down for three months. More recently, ransomware hit the court system in rural Jackson County Georgia in March resulting in Jackson County paying attackers $400,000.
All systems have been impacted but It hasn’t been made clear to what severity. To be safe, the court’s website has been temporarily shut down.
