The Administrative Office of the Courts, which provides the case management systems for counties across Washington, has temporarily shut down its network after detecting “unauthorized activity” on the morning of Nov. 4.
The agency announced on Monday that it had taken “immediate action to secure critical systems” after identifying the unauthorized activity on the Washington Courts network. The temporary shutdown affects all counties in the state, with impacts to local court case management, calendars and workflows.
Skagit and Whatcom counties both issued news releases regarding the impacts. Skagit County Clerk Melissa Beaton described the issue as “unprecedented.”
Court offices will remain open with normal operating hours. In Skagit, according to the news release, all court filings, new cases and payments will be delayed. Orders for law enforcement such as warrants, quashes and civil protections will be faxed.
In Whatcom, e-filing, online payments, online record searches and new non-emergent cases are temporarily suspended, but in-person filing of paper documents, cash payments and access to physical case records will be available. Time-sensitive filings will be processed.
“Please have patience,” Whatcom County Superior Court Clerk Raylene King said. “We’re doing the best we can.” She added that once the system is back online, there will be a backlog of documents that need to be uploaded in order of filing.
Periodic updates will be available on each county’s website and on the Washington Courts Facebook page.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
