Kansas chief justice says restoration of court records after cyber attack is on the ‘near horizon’

(AP) — Kansas courts are getting closer to functioning normally after affiliates of a Russian-based ransomware group infiltrated the system three months ago, state Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert told lawmakers Wednesday in her State of the Judiciary address.

“As of today, our centralized case management system has been restored, and with it, the free public portal that allows quick access to electronic work records,” she said.

Electronic filing also was restored Wednesday in two judicial districts, and it is expected to be brought back statewide in about two weeks.

Court officials discovered in October that crucial servers were inaccessible and then found ransomware on the encrypted systems. In the ensuing shutdown, courts in all but the state’s most populous county had to switch to paper filings and other workarounds. Johnson County in the Kansas City area was spared because it has its own systems and isn’t scheduled to join the state’s systems until next year.

Although backup systems made it feasible to recover data, the restoration process has been slowed by the need to fortify the system. “Once hacked,” Luckert said, “the likelihood of another attack increases.”

Luckert stressed that the state didn’t pay the ransom, and it is working to identify and notify those whose personal information was stolen.

“We are optimistic that full functionality of our systems, including appellate e-filing, is on the near horizon,” Luckert said.

Her comments came as Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, prepared to deliver her annual State of the State address.