Officials fix bugs in Kansas courts computer system, as it comes back online amid delays
After a cyberattack crippled the Kansas courts computer system, forcing officials to take it offline months ago, the process to restore the system has been experiencing delays, with some districts are experiencing slower system performance, the judicial branch announced Wednesday.
Officials were forced to shut down the system along with public access to documents after an Oct. 12 cyberattack temporarily incapacitated several judicial branch information systems. Last month, the Kansas Supreme Court called the incident a “sophisticated foreign cyberattack.”
As of Dec. 19, district courts in nine judicial districts encompassing 28 counties had their access to the case management system restored. A total of 20 judicial districts are expected to be added by Dec. 27, as officials work through slow systems in the restoration plan.
“The restoration plan originally called for courts in 104 counties to be back on the case management system by the end of last week, but system performance slowed the effort,” a judicial branch statement said.
As more courts regained access to the case management system, court personnel reported performance issues affecting how payments and transactions are recorded.
Case processing and backfilling case events are unaffected by this issue, the judicial branch said Wednesday.
“System experts will continue to troubleshoot, isolate and resolve system performance issues that affect recording financial activities,” the judicial branch said in a statement.
The judicial branch said courts operating on the case management system will continue to use a paper receipt process that was adopted after the Oct. 12 cyberattack.
Accessing case information
As the case management systems are restored in respective district courts, visitors will be able to search case information through terminals at some courthouses.
Case events and case documents dated after Oct. 12 will take some time to show up in a search, the judicial branch said. It could take several weeks for districts to bring all case events and documents up to date after they regain access to the system.
The web-based Kansas District Court Public Access Portal will not be available until after all district courts have regained access to the case management system.
The public can also search cases through a public access service center in the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka.
As part of the restoration plan, eFiling systems used by attorneys, Kansas Supreme Court and Kansas Court of Appeals will be brought back online after district court systems.
“Restoring our district court case management system is a much-anticipated milestone in our recovery plan but we still have a lot of work to do,” Chief Justice Marla Luckert said in a statement last month.
“We renew our request for everyone’s patience as we work through our multiphase recovery,” she said.
Officials are still working on a tentative timeline for all districts to regain access to the system.
