By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The FBI is investigating a cyberattack that targeted Arizona’s court system. Tens of thousands of personal records may have been compromised, including those belonging to domestic violence victims.
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Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer said her IT staff noticed unusual activity last Thursday, with random computer files being offloaded or copied.
“Just large chunks of data is all we know at this point,” said Timmer. “We’ve had no indication they’re targeting any specific types of information.”
“It appears that it’s some type of automated bot that just went in and started hitting particular files, but we have no indication if it was random or targeted,” Timmer said.
System shut down within two hours
Timmer said the system was shut down within about two hours, but thousands of records were hacked into.
It’s unclear whether anyone opened those files.
Court officials said no one group was targeted. However, people with orders of protection are among those whose names and addresses appear to have been copied and exposed.
A woman who has an order of protection against someone said the data breach could put her safety at risk.
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“Reading that the criminals may have copied my information about me and my location made me feel very vulnerable,” she said.
Courts notify those affected
Emails have been sent to everyone whose personal data may have been compromised. The courts have also reached out to domestic violence shelters and advocacy groups to provide guidance on what to do next.
Jenna Panas is CEO of the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence.
“This is a court order that enables them to be secure against somebody who is harming them or harassing them or stalking them, and so these are individuals who typically have reasons to protect their address, protect their name,” Panas said.
What to do if you’re concerned
The courts have posted a link on their website with information on what to do if you’re concerned about your personal data being hacked.
The domestic abuse hotline is available 24 hours a day at 602-269-2980.
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