All 36 Los Angeles County Superior Court locations remain closed Monday after a ransomware attack that disabled computer and network systems, Courthouse News reports. "The court experienced an unprecedented cyberattack on Friday which has resulted in the need to shut down nearly all network systems in order to contain the damage, protect the integrity and confidentiality of information and ensure future network stability and security," said Presiding Judge Samantha Jessner. "While the court continues to move swiftly toward a restoration and recovery phase, many critical systems remain offline." Officials expected to have operations up and running by Tuesday.
A court spokesperson declined to say if officials had any information about who the attackers were, or if the court system had paid the ransom demands. The ransomware attack came Friday, the same day a faulty software update from the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike plunged businesses across the globe into chaos, grounding flights and shutting down computers. The timing of the two events appears to be a coincidence. A number of California cities have been hit with ransomware attacks in the last two years, including Oakland, El Cerrito, Modesto and Hayward. San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit System and the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department were also hit with ransomware attacks in 2023. Ransomware is a type of malware that infects a device, computer or network and encrypts all files so the owner can't access them. A criminal group will demand payment in exchange for decryption. Cybersecurity expert Darrin Johnson said most ransomware attackers are based in China, North Korea and Russia, which either sanction or tolerate such attacks as long as the targets are abroad. "It’s not kids in a basement," Johnson said. "These are hundreds of millions and billions of dollars in payments that are leaving America going to other countries."
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