TOPEKA (KSNT) - State officials are working to get in touch with people who's personal information was accessed after a cybersecurity incident last October.

Oct. 12, 2023, a "sophisticated foreign cyberattack" on the state's Judicial Branch temporarily stalled any technological court systems, making the courts go back to a paper filing system. A thorough examination of the files that were accessed during the incident completed by cybersecurity experts and the Office of Judicial Administration was concluded by April 23, 2024. Those experts found some files accessed in the incident contained personal information for around 150,000 people, according to the release.

“We store information on our networks in various formats, and some files are complex, which lengthened the time it took to determine which files included personal information,” Chief Justice Marla Luckert, speaking on behalf of the Kansas Supreme Court said. “We believed it was worth the extra effort and prevention of needless worry to clarify who was affected and who was not.”

“We’re sorry anyone was personally impacted by the actions of the criminals who attacked our court computer systems,” Luckert said. “The judicial branch respects the privacy of information given to us, and it’s a high priority throughout the court system to keep that information secure.”

Now, the Kansas Office of Judicial Administration is working with a vendor to contact the people who were impacted by the cyberattack, according to the release. This information came to the Office of Judicial Administration in many ways including: through litigation in the Kansas appellate courts, applications to the Kansas Bar or other administrative records kept by the office.

Some of the data potentially compromised in the incident include names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver's license or other state identification card numbers, government identification card numbers, tax identification card numbers, financial account information, payment card information, passport numbers, biometric identifiers, health information or health insurance policy information.

Since the incident last year, Luckert said additional security controls have been added and work is being done to enhance security controls to reduce the possibility of future cybersecurity incidents.

The courts say in the release that impacted individuals will be notified by letter if address information is available or by media publication if no address is available. No one will be notified by telephone, text or email. The courts advise anyone who receives a phone call, text or email about the cybersecurity incident to end the call or delete the text or email.

To see if you were one of those impacted by the cyber attack, click here. You can also call 1-888-861-6382 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. CST Monday through Friday with questions about the incident.

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