The Los Angeles County Superior Court system was hit by a ransomware attack Friday morning, prompting officials to disable network systems for at least the weekend.
The attack does not appear to be related to the faulty CrowdStrike update that caused a global technology outage on Friday, officials said in a statement.
CrowdStrike is a major provider of software aimed at protecting businesses from ransomware, in which an attacker encrypts and blocks access to computer systems or data until some form of payment is made. Law enforcement is investigating the court attack and so far there is “no evidence that a criminal offense was committed.” [users’] “Data is being compromised,” the statement said.
After the attack was discovered, the court's network systems were taken offline to minimize damage, the statement said. Those systems are expected to remain offline at least through the weekend to address the problem.
Officials did not specify which “network systems” had been disabled. However, as of Friday evening, several pages on the court’s website were down and displaying error messages, including the jury portal.
