Kansas Gov. weighs in on foreign cyberattack

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Kansas Governor Laura Kelly is weighing in on a cyberattack that disabled the state's online court system in October.

Just two weeks ago, the Kansas Supreme Court justices confirmed that the state's judicial branch was a victim of a "sophisticated foreign cyberattack."

Governor Kelly responded to questions from reporters Tuesday. One question was whether the executive branch has taken away any lessons from the security breach.

"We actually have been taking a very serious approach to all things cybersecurity... it didn't just start with the breach at the judicial branch," Gov. Kelly said. " Our information technology office has been working very closely with all of our agencies in our non-cabinet agencies to ensure that we are as safe as we possibly can be. There is more work to do and we will be doing that work and investing the funds that it'll take to make Kansas safe."

The crippling cyberattack forced Kansas courts to revert to paper-only methods. People who needed to access court records or information were told to do so in person or by mail or fax.

A plan to restore systems was announced last week, following the disclosure of the source of the security incident.

According to a press release, the project to restore systems is expected to take several weeks and the timeline is subject to change.

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