Hackers hit court recording database in Australia

Hackers have breached the court recordings database in Australia’s Victoria state, causing disruption to the audio-visual in-court technology network and affecting both recordings and transcription services.

Recordings of some court hearings between Nov. 1 and Dec. 21, 2023 may have been stolen, Court Services Victoria CEO Louise Anderson said in a statement. Some hearings before Nov. 1 may also have been affected, she said.

“The potential access is confined to recordings stored on the network. No other court systems or records, including employee or financial data, were accessed,” Anderson said.

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Hearings in January would proceed after the affected network was isolated and disabled, and court officials were working closely with the government’s cyber security experts. Court Services Victoria did not reveal whether it received any ransomware demands.

State-sponsored cyber groups and hackers have stepped up their assault on Australia’s critical infrastructure, businesses and homes, a government report released in November 2023 showed, with one attack happening every six minutes.

The cyber intrusion at the court database comes after a recent history of security breaches, including a late last year hack at DP World Australia, a major port operator, resulting in a three-day operational suspension. Additionally, Eagers Automotive disclosed a cyber incident impacting its IT systems last week.