ALPHV/BlackCat, a ransomware group, has claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on the First Judicial Circuit, which includes Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties, for weeks.
Heimdal Security, a global cybersecurity company, reported the hackers allegedly obtained sensitive personal information of employees and judges, including Social Security numbers and CVs. Moreover, ALPHV claims to have a detailed network map of the court’s systems, inclusive of credentials for both local and remote services. Read more.
Attorneys have complained that the court system has not been able to supply transcripts of several trials.
Clerk Pam Childers told the News Journal that the local administrative structure was breached during the incident. Chief Judge John Miller said investigators haven’t verified if personal data was breached.
Dig Deeper: BlackCat/ALPHV, first emerging in November 2021, is presumed to be a rebranding of the notorious DarkSide/BlackMatter ransomware groups.
DarkSide became globally recognized after compromising the Colonial Pipeline, prompting investigations from worldwide law enforcement. They rebranded as BlackMatter in July 2021 but ceased operations in November 2021 following server seizures and the development of a decryption tool by security firm Emsisoft.