Privacy – Cyberattack on Cordoba’s judicial branch
By Delfina Sejas and Mateo Darget.
On August 13, 2022, Córdoba´s Judicial System (from now onwards, “the System”) stopped working after receiving a cyberattack. As a result, the authorities filed a criminal complaint and the Cybercrime Prosecutor’s Office began to investigate the case.
The attack was carried out by means of a “malware”, type ransomware. The attackers managed to hijack the information in the System’s database and, as a result, the IT services provided by the province were unable to function normally. The Public Prosecutor’s Office was the only department that continued functioning normally since it was not affected by the attack.
In response to the attack, Cordoba’s Judicial Branch made an official communication via Twitter announcing the Regulatory Agreement 1778 that would carry out a “contingency plan” to ensure access to justice. The first measure was to suspend provisionally the electronic processing of all judicial files. In the meantime, it had been provisionally established that legal filings should be submitted in paper form to the competent courts and offices.
Córdoba´s Judicial Branch announced that the databases’ “backups” were intact. After a week of the attack, they managed to stabilize internal digital services, enabled the access to the justice website and announced that the data was recovered and unharmed. However, they extended the intended contingency plan. According to experts, it could take months to reach a full recovery.
For further information please contact: dsejas@ojambf.com or mdarget@ojambf.com.
