The Arizona Supreme Court said the stolen information covers 1.3 million people with unpaid court fees, fines and restitution payments tied to traffic and criminal violations — records stretching back as far as 30 years.
The data came from the court's Fines, Fees and Restitution Enforcement program, which tracks court-ordered victim restitution, fees and fines.
But the financial records were not the only thing taken. The attackers also copied nearly 30,000 active and inactive orders of protection, and roughly 150,000 reports from the Arizona Foster Care Review Board dating back to 2010.
Those reports contain general case information, details about children, the names and statements of interested parties, and recommendations made to the court in cases where parents were alleged to be unfit or unable to care for a child.
Spotted on September 24, stopped in two hours
The court's technology staff detected the intrusion on a backup server on September 24 and shut it down about two hours after spotting it. Since then, the court has been notifying those whose information was accessed.
"We don't have any evidence it has been used or shared" after the attack, state Supreme Court spokesperson Alberto Rodriguez said Tuesday.
He added that the investigation is ongoing, that no records were altered or deleted, and that the breach has not affected or delayed any court cases. The attackers did not steal information about jurors, witnesses or court employees.
Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer addressed the breach in a September 25 news release, saying the court's IT staff learned of the attack and stopped it as quickly as possible. She said she had spoken with the state's top-ranking FBI leader about the incident.
"As soon as I learned about this outrageous criminal attack on Arizona's Courts, I immediately called our team together to formulate a response," Timmer said.
A wider wave of attacks on court systems
The Arizona breach is the latest in a string of cyberattacks targeting state and federal court systems. Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Cory Swanson announced in September that Montana's court had suffered "unauthorized access" to its case management system for appellate cases and the state's electronic filing system.
The pattern has raised alarms among judicial administrators, who handle vast amounts of sensitive personal data but have historically operated with smaller cybersecurity budgets than banks or federal agencies.
Phishing remains the most common entry point: security teams say a single clicked link can still undo years of defensive investment.
For the people whose data was copied, the court says notification is underway. Whether the stolen information ever surfaces elsewhere remains an open question — and one the FBI's involvement suggests is being taken seriously.
By Hamza Faisal
