ARIZONA — An Arizona woman who has a protective order against an abuser says she is changing the way she lives after learning sensitive information from court records may have been copied during a recent cyberattack.
Stephanie, who ABC15 is not identifying by her last name because of the nature of her protective order, says the information in her court records includes the names and addresses of her family members.
“It exposed my name, my children’s name, my address, my mother’s address,” Stephanie said.
She says she was able to obtain a protective order after documenting threats from her alleged abuser against her and her family.
“They threatened to take my life, my youngest child’s life,” she said.
Then, late last month, Stephanie received an email notifying her that information connected to her protective order may have been part of the data copied during a cyberattack targeting the Arizona court system.
She initially thought the email could be a scam. But after confirming it was legitimate, Stephanie says she began researching ways to protect herself and her family.
“I’ve had to do my own research on how to keep myself safe,” she said.
She now sends and receives mail through a P.O. box, has installed security cameras and purchased an identity-theft protection service.
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Arizona Courts says records involving both active and inactive protective orders were among the information copied during the attack. About 170,000 people with protective orders may potentially be affected, according to court officials.
The attack also involved information connected to the state's Fines/Fees and Restitution Enforcement, or FARE, program. More than 1 million people dating back 30 years may potentially be affected, including records containing names, case numbers and Social Security numbers.
Court officials say the attack appears to have started when a court employee clicked a malicious link in a phishing email.
Arizona Chief Justice Ann Timmer apologized for the breach and said much of the information that was copied came from a highly compressed backup server, making it unclear how easily the data can be read.
There is currently no evidence that the information has been shared, officials say.
Timmer also said investigators do not yet know who is behind the attack and that the courts are working with law enforcement, including the FBI and Arizona State Police.
“I spoke with the FBI special agent in charge,” Timmer said. “We’ve caught people before and we’ve alerted the state police as well.”
For people with existing protective orders, Arizona Courts says there is no need to refile. The orders remain valid, and the cyberattack does not change their validity.
But for Stephanie, the breach has changed how safe she feels.
“I think they should be supplying the LifeLock. They should be furnishing the funds,” she said.
Stephanie says she hopes the court system will do more to help people whose sensitive information may have been included in the copied records.
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