Courts’ websites down after hack

Websites for the Texas court system were still down Monday after a ransomware attack late last week left the network temporarily disabled, according to the Office of Court Administration.

Officials discovered the breach early Friday and quickly shut down sites and disabled servers to contain it, the office said in a statement. The hack did not impact e-filing and other services, many of which have been transferred to the cloud in recent years, according to the office.

“At this time, there is no indication that any sensitive information, including personal information, was compromised,” the office said. It added that websites for local trial courts are still available online.

The office said it detected the breach early and has refused to pay any ransom. While the courts have moved increasingly to remote hearings amid the coronavirus pandemic, the attack was unrelated, according to the office.

Officials have not said when the system will be back online, but they have set up a temporary website and are working with law enforcement and the Texas Department of Information Resources to investigate the attack.

The hack comes less than a year after nearly two dozen local governments in Texas were hit by a similar coordinated attack.

Ransomware attacks occur when hackers plant code inside a computer network, inhibiting access. A spokeswoman for the administration office said Monday that the hackers no longer have control of any of the portions of the network that were compromised in the attack.