Arizona Supreme Court breach exposes data on 1.3 million people

The Arizona Supreme Court says attackers copied personal information on 1.3 million people in a cyberattack. The records concerned unpaid court fees, fines and restitution for traffic and criminal violations dating back 30 years.

The attackers also copied almost 30,000 active and inactive orders of protection, along with 150,000 reports from a foster care board dating back to 2010. The reports contain recommendations in cases where parents were allegedly unable or unfit to care for a child.

According to the Associated Press, the court’s IT team shut down the attack on a backup server roughly two hours after it was spotted on September 24. The court has been notifying people affected by the breach. The investigation is ongoing.

Supreme Court spokesperson Alberto Rodriguez said there was no evidence the stolen data had been used or shared. He added that court operations were not disrupted. The court said records were not altered or deleted, and that attackers apparently did not take information about jurors, witnesses or court employees.

It remains unclear how the attackers gained access. TechRadar reported that an employee allegedly clicked a malicious link in an email, but available information does not establish whether this led to an infected device or a compromised account.