Was private info accessed in Kansas courts security breach?  

TOPEKA (KSNT)- A security breach is prompting a statewide shakeup for Kansas courts. 

The Kansas Supreme Court issued a new order on Monday, putting all electronic filings and payments on hold. All filings for courts will have to be on paper or by fax, with paper filings to be hand delivered or sent by mail. 

“Reverting to a paper process, it is going to be a little slower after we’ve relied on technology for so long,” Lisa Taylor, a spokeswoman for Kansas Capitol Bureau said. “Hopefully, this won’t last too terribly long, we’re hoping to find out what’s wrong and fix it.”

The new rules will impact all courts, except Johnson County. This comes after the Judicial branch experienced a security incident last week. The incident impacted court systems statewide, which are used to file and process cases and paperwork. Taylor said the incident left “more questions than answers.” So far, the state is still trying to figure out what happened, how it happened, and how far it reached. 

Kansas Capitol Bureau asked whether private or personal information may have been accessed during the breach.

“Like I said, we have more questions than answers at this point… that’s something we will look at, but we don’t currently have an answer to that question,” Taylor said.

There’s also no answer to when systems will be brought back online. The Office of Judicial Administration is working with experts to get answers on the security incident. 

The network issues faced by the judicial branch interrupted user access to several online systems, including:

Kansas Courts eFiling, which accepts electronically filed documents.

Kansas Protection Order Portal, which accepts electronically filed documents.

Kansas District Court Public Access Portal, which allows searching district court case information.

Appellate Case Inquiry System, which allows searching appellate court case information.

Kansas Attorney Registration, which allows searching for an attorney by name or bar number.

Kansas online marriage license application. Persons can still apply, but the application will not be sent to a district court for processing through the efiling system.

Central Payment Center, which operates in the Office of Judicial Administration, will not be able to process disbursements on behalf of district courts.

Kansas eCourt case management system, which district courts use to process cases.