Supreme Court says state courts will stay open, operate on paper while security incident examined

TOPEKA—The Kansas Supreme Court says state courts will stay open and rely on paper filings while the Office of Judicial Administration works with experts to find the reason for and the extent of a security incident that disrupted the information systems on which state courts operate.
 
“It’s an appropriate next step in a situation like this to define the extent to which our systems are affected,” said Chief Justice Marla Luckert. “We’ve called in experts to continue that process, and I’m grateful for the number of people who have reached out to us with offers of support.”
 
The security incident has affected a number of systems used daily by courts statewide, including the Kansas Courts eFiling system attorneys use to file documents in cases, the Kansas eCourt case management system district courts use to process cases, and others.
 
The Office of Judicial Administration has requested expert help from several sources to determine what happened, how it happened, and how far it reached.
 
While the security incident is examined, attorneys and other court users must submit filings on paper, unless they may be submitted by fax. Courts are currently operating under Administrative Order 2023-CC-073. An updated order is expected Monday, October 16.
 
Attorneys who are paper filing for the first time, or need a refresher or forms, are encouraged to use resources on the Kansas Judicial Council website. The resources can also be used by people who represent themselves in court.
 
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.

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Prior news releases on security incident:
 
Supreme Court issues order in response to network security incident (10-12-23)
Network issues affecting access to some court systems (10-12-23)