Kansas court system notifies victims of cyberattack

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - The Kansas Office of Judicial Administration is contacting victims of a cybersecurity breach to educate them on the incident and how to protect themselves.

Kansas courts said it reduced the potential number of people impacted from a population that could have included anyone who ever interacted with Kansas courts to about 150,000.

Letters were mailed out to those affected unless an address was unavailable. Victims can find resources on the judicial branch’s website. The state office of judicial administration will not call, text, or email you. If you get a notification, end the call or delete the text/email.

“We’re sorry anyone was personally impacted by the actions of the criminals who attacked our court computer systems,” said Chief Justice Marla Luckert, who spoke on behalf of the Kansas Supreme Court. “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.”

On October 12, 2023, the Kansas Judicial Branch said a “security incident” shut down online operations for most of the state’s courts. An investigation that wrapped up on April 23 found that some files accessed during the incident contained personal information. Information that may have been exposed includes 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.

“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,” Luckert said. “We believed it was worth the extra effort and prevention of needless worry to clarify who was affected and who was not.”

Impacted individuals can call 1-888-861-6382 with their questions between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Central Time, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.