The Los Angeles Superior Court, the largest single unified trial court in the country, closed on Monday due to a ransomware attack that affected its systems late last week.
The court announced on Sunday that all 36 courthouse locations in the county would remain closed Monday as court personnel and security experts worked to repair the severely impacted network systems detected on Friday.
On Monday afternoon, parts of the court’s website remained offline. The attackers have not been publicly identified, and a court spokesperson on Monday did not provide an update on the timeline for reopening other than to refer to an earlier statement that anticipated operations to resume on Tuesday.
The attack affected the court’s jury duty portal and internal systems for case management and other functions. The court stated it does not believe the attack is related to the Crowdstrike issue that triggered a major tech outage affecting industries from airlines to banking to healthcare worldwide. The preliminary investigation found no evidence of court user data being compromised.
To prevent further harm, the court disabled its systems through the weekend after detecting the attack on Friday.
After the attack, every electronic platform containing court data became inaccessible, as did any device connected to the internet, including the Court’s telephone systems, according to a Sunday order signed by Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge Samantha Jessner.
