Gun sales return to WA despite ongoing statewide court system outage

Unauthorized activity has been detected on the network that runs and operates Washington court systems, causing significant concerns as it cripples statewide operations.

The “unauthorized activity” was first detected earlier this month, causing the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to shut down its website. Courts throughout the state have reported that electronic filing systems, phone systems and platforms used to pay fines were affected by the statewide court system’s issues.

“Good progress is being made, but it is extremely time-consuming to bring our systems back up in a secure environment due to the complexity and interconnectivity of the networks,” Wendy Ferrell, associate director for AOC, said, according to The Washington State Standard.

The network outage has caused attorneys, judges and other court employees significant challenges while working on active cases.

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“This is crippling the court system,” a judge within the King County legal system, who asked to remain anonymous, told MyNorthwest. “Bananas.”

The impact on gun sales

Gun sales in Washington were “essentially” placed on pause while the state works on this issue. According to KIRO 7, the Washington State Patrol (WSP) was unable to access the Secure Automated Firearms E-Check system, which is needed to complete mandatory background checks, from Nov. 1 until Nov. 17. The Secure Automated Firearms E-Check system processes between 400 and 1,000 checks a day.

In total, the court system shutdown prevented the completion of thousands of firearm sales statewide until the Secure Automated Firearms E-Check system came back online — which happened at approximately 1 p.m. Nov. 17.

Frustrations regarding the inability to purchase or sell firearms were boiling over before the solve. The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), an organization dedicated to preserving and protecting the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, threatened legal action against WSP if the Secure Automated Firearms E-Check system is not restored promptly.

“This is simply unacceptable, and we will not tolerate it,” SAF Founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said last week. “Washington State citizens have had their rights under the federal and state constitutions suspended, and we will take legal action if this isn’t solved immediately. Where is Attorney General and soon-to-be Governor Bob Ferguson on this? It is his job to protect the rights of all Evergreen State citizens, and that includes gun owners and people who may want to purchase a firearm, whose rights are protected by Article I, Section 24 of the State Constitution, and the Second Amendment.”

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The Washington State Gambling Commission is dealing with a similar challenge, according to The Washington State Standard.

Is this a ransomware attack?

The AOC has not responded to requests for an update or comment about whether they are dealing with a ransomware attack, according to The Record. MyNorthwest and KIRO Newsradio have additionally reached out for comment.

“I haven’t heard that there’s a cybercrime or ransomware,” Casey McNerthney, director of communications at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, told MyNorthwest. “The outage is at the state level – state agencies run the databases that are down. I don’t know their ETA for restoration, but I’ve heard those state folks are working on it now.”

The state Supreme Court issued an emergency order earlier this month in order to empower local courts to modify timelines for case filings, trials and sentencing. Through this emergency order, courts can also delay arraignments and first appearances for individuals out of custody.

How widespread this shutdown is

Thurston, Monroe, Renton, Puyallup, Bainbridge, King, Pierce, Whatcom and Lewis County all initially reported issues with its own court system, but multiple officials with the King County court system have disclosed that their internal operations are running as expected, as of this reporting.

“Regarding King County District Court (KCDC) operations, we have our own case management system that is not affected by the statewide outage,” Troy Brown, the communications officer with King County District Court, said. “We are operating at almost full capacity. Name changes, some infractions, and some reviews may be continued.”

“Like District Court, King County Superior Court has independent IT and case management systems, so the outage has not caused significant interruptions to our court operations,” Amy Roe, communications manager with King County Superior Court, added.

Multiple municipal courts in several cities have reported issues with their court systems alongside the aforementioned counties.

Wendy Ferrell, the associate director for the AOC, said they “have no reason to believe that was a targeted attack,” according to The Seattle Times.

Pennsylvania, Florida, Louisiana, California, Ohio, Nebraska, Texas, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois have all dealt with data leaks or ransomware incidents with their court systems this year, according to The Record. Each state listed reported significant issues and limited operations came from these incidents.

Meanwhile, Washington has been hit with multiple ransomware gangs in 2024 alone, including hacks and attacks affecting the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the Seattle Library and a public school district.

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Contributing: KIRO 7

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.