(TargetLiberty.org) – Hackers broke into NYC’s Law Department over the weekend, threatening thousands of confidential legal files – and triggering a panicked reaction that’s causing chaos for city lawyers.
A cyber attack on the New York City Law Department led to a shutdown of its computer network. It remained unclear on Monday who was behind the attack or what the hackers’ goal was. https://t.co/xTMJudmCWj
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 8, 2021
On June 5, New York City’s Cyber Command – a computer security agency tasked with protecting the city’s data – detected an attack on the Law Department. The Law Department employs almost 2,000 staff – 1,000 of them lawyers – and represents the city in all legal matters. The cases it handles include labor law, real estate, worker’s comp and any litigation against city officials, right up to the mayor. A successful cyberattack on it could compromise a huge mass of confidential information.
As bad as an attack on the Law Department could be, the city’s response to this one isn’t a whole lot less damaging. So far no ransom has been demanded, so it’s possible no sensitive files were accessed, but the city has restricted network access to the Law Department’s servers – and now lawyers can’t get their work done. At least one NYC lawyer has already written to a judge to explain that limited access is holding her back.
How the hack and the lack of access will impact cases about to go to court, or ongoing cases is unclear at this early point.
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