Hackers behind Arizona Supreme Court cyberattack accessed reports about kids in foster care

The hackers behind a cyberattack on the Arizona Supreme Court accessed detailed reports about children in the state’s foster care system.

Last week, Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer said the court was targeted by cybercriminals who gained access to many Arizonans’ personal identifying information.

On Monday night, the Supreme Court revealed that the hackers accessed a second dataset that included reports prepared by the Arizona Foster Care Review Board, a citizen panel that reviews cases involving children in the foster care system.

There are currently around 8,000 children in Arizona’s foster care system, and the data set included more than 150,000 reports for current and past cases dating back to 2010, according to the court.

“Although confidential, the copied reports contain case-specific information already shared with case participants, including parents, through normal FCRB processes,” according to information provided by the Arizona Supreme Court.

The reports include information about children, names of interested parties, and review board findings. They do not include contact information, such as phone numbers or addresses.

The court has notified parties involved in foster care cases about the breach, including the Arizona Department of Child Safety, attorneys representing parents and children, judges and members of the Foster Care Review Board.

Arizona Supreme Court Spokesman Alberto Rodriguez said the court does not know of a motive for the attack or who is behind it.

“We can confirm they accessed our system via a phishing attack email and copied information from our backup servers,” Rodriguez said in an email. “We’re unaware if they can read the information because it was stored in a highly compressed format.”

The state Supreme Court is cooperating with the FBI, which is investigating the breach.

Rodriguez said the AZPoint website, which allows Arizonans to seek orders of protection and injunctions against harassment, was not compromised and is safe to use.