STATE attorneys in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will not be able to appear in cases virtually from Wednesday-Friday, while security processes are applied to their electronic devices.
This comes after the ICT failure that both the DPP and the Attorney General’s office suffered in June.
Judicial officers told defence attorneys of prosecutors' inability to attend court at the end of the week in e-mails notifying them their clients' case had been adjourned to September.
The attorneys were told all state attorneys must submit all electronic devices to the AG’s office for a particular security process to be applied.
On July 7, the Ministry of Digital Transformation said a cyberattack was detected on the network of the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs (AGLA).
The ministry said the attack resulted in the temporary disruption of operations at the AGLA and certain associated divisions. Alternative systems were subsequently put in place after the unauthorised access to the networks at the AG’s office.
It also said after the attack was detected, action was taken to minimise the threat, and an investigation, "in partnership with leading industry cybersecurity experts, is ongoing.”
Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, said investigations were under way into the cyberattack on his ministry, and said he could not comment while the investigations were taking place.
The investigation is led by a specialised unit of the police service to determine where the threat originated.
A week after the cyberattack on the AG’s office, the judiciary’s digital services temporarily went down. This led to staff not being able to access their official e-mails or calendars, which led to the adjournment of cases. Attorneys were also unable to file documents related to court matters, since the website was not accessible.
The next day, July 13, service was restored and the Judiciary explained the online services had been “cut as a pre-emptive measure”
It was not revealed whether the disruption of the Judiciary’s digital services was linked to the cyberattack on the AG’s office.
There has been no further updates from the AG’s office on the investigation into the cyberattack, which affected its civil-law departments and the Office of the DPP.
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