Courts have halted Pa. Attorney General's Office cases after a ransomware attack

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Published Sept. 2, 2025, 2:24 p.m. ET


State and federal courts in Philadelphia have paused cases connected to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office after the law enforcement agency fell prey to a ransomware attack in August.

The office confirmed the cyberattack publicly in a Friday statement, saying the “interruption was caused by an outsider encrypting files in an effort to force the office to make a payment to restore operations.” “No payment has been made,” the statement said. The computer network for the state’s top law enforcement agency has been down since Aug. 11.

“Office of Attorney General staff are unable to access any litigation data, which prevents our attorneys from contacting witnesses, timely responding to pleadings, conducting discovery, or otherwise proceeding with litigation,” the office said in an Aug. 12 letter to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.

The agency had made “substantial progress” in restoring its tech functionality, the Friday statement said, and a majority of the agency’s 1,200 employees now have access to email. The office said that it was unable to provide more information because of an investigation into the hack.

Read more: https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/pennsylvania-attorney-general-office-cyber-ransomware-attack-20250902.html