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Arizona court data breach exposes over 1 million
A massive cyberattack on Arizona's court system exposed the personal information of over 1 million people. Hackers also accessed confidential foster care files. FOX 10's Jacob Luthi reports.
PHOENIX - More than 1.3 million people may be affected by a data breach involving Arizona’s court system, with potentially sensitive personal information connected to a court debt collection program among the data that may have been compromised.
What we know:
Court officials say the breach was discovered after a court employee clicked on a malicious link. Court IT staff contained the breach within two hours, and the FBI was notified, according to Chief Justice Ann Timmer.
The data may include names, case numbers and Social Security numbers belonging to people referred to the state’s FARE program, which helps collect court-ordered debt.
The court is urging potentially affected individuals to place a hold or freeze on their credit files with the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Court officials say notifications about the cyberattack will be sent to individuals in the court’s FARE program by text message.
Click here for a FAQ about this data breach
Arizona Supreme Court officials say IT staff contained a phishing breach within two hours, but hackers still accessed sensitive information. The court is urging affected individuals to freeze their credit.
What they're saying:
"It can have lifelong consequences if an identity is then created and stolen from somebody," analyst and law student Erin Meehan said.
Meehan said she received an email Sept. 25 warning that information related to a past protective order may have been compromised.
"One thing about going to the court and seeking a protective order is that I or others are persons who are looking for help," Meehan said. "So we already have serious concerns for our safety and well-being."
Arizona court data breach: Cyberattack targets judicial network, protective orders
A phishing scam compromised personal data across the Arizona judicial system, exposing protective order information. Officials notified the FBI and say court records remain intact.
Dig deeper:
The breach also involved more than 150,000 confidential Foster Care Review Board reports dating back to 2010, according to the court.
The reports contain sensitive child welfare information.
According to the FAQ page regarding the cyberattack, the Foster Care Review Board evaluates dependency cases, tracks their progress and provides recommendations to the juvenile court judge overseeing each case.
The Judicial Branch says it has notified the Arizona Department of Child Safety, attorneys representing parents and children in dependency cases, juvenile court judges and Foster Care Review Board members about the breach.
But Lori Ford, an advocate with the Arizona Department of Child Safety Oversight Group, said parents whose children's information may have been involved have not been notified.
"No parents have been notified, and as it stands today, parents still are not getting notified," Ford said. "It’s a parent’s right to know that their children’s information has been breached."
Arizona court system targeted in cyberattack compromising personal records
The FBI is investigating a cyberattack targeting the Arizona court system that may have compromised personally identifiable information belonging to residents.
‘Figure out how to mitigate the damage’
The court says it is continuing to identify which records were copied and which individuals may have been affected.
Meehan said that leaves people potentially impacted by the breach trying to determine how to protect themselves.
"As petitioners, respondents, you know, the responsibility of parents of children, is to try and figure out how to mitigate the damage from this," Meehan said.
Court officials say they have no evidence that any of the information has been shared.
They also say that, because of the format of the copied files, it is unclear whether most of the data can be easily read.