Officials reported that portions of the Pennsylvania Courts system were down following cyberattack.
Despite the disruption that began over the weekend, there was no evidence to suggest any court data was compromised, officials said in a Sunday night statement.
The a denial of service attack targeted the statewide judiciary’s online services, according to the statement.
The attack hindered access to PACFile, online docket sheets, PAePay, and the Guardianship Tracking System. However, court officials assured the public that the courts would “remain open and accessible.”
A message on the system said on Monday morning that the website was down due to court officials “performing application maintenance.”
A denial of service (DoS) attack, as explained by officials, involves overwhelming a network with excessive traffic, leading to a shutdown or severely hampered operations, effectively barring legitimate users from accessing the services.
“Our court information technology and executive team is working closely with law enforcement, including the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI to investigate the incident,” Pennsylvania Chief Justice Debra Todd said.
While the investigation continues, the court has not disclosed the specific origins of the attack or any potential suspects.
