The Law Offices of the Public Defender — whose attorneys represent between 85% and 95% of the defendants in the state — was the victim of a cybersecurity attack last week.
In a news release, a spokesperson for the offices said the attack has compromised access to critical internal records, as well as its ability to communicate with clients and other members of the criminal justice system. The news release was sent from a newly created Gmail account because the “department’s email system has been disabled by a cyberattack.”
“We are responding to this security breach as an emergency and doing our absolute best to guard our clients and our court partners,” Chief Public Defender Ben Baur said in a news release. “Our primary focus is to protect the confidential information of our colleagues and those we represent and to restore our systems to full functionality.”
LOPD is the state’s largest law firm with 13 offices across the state, more than 400 employees and about 100 contracts with private attorneys. It represents low-income people facing criminal charges.
“The breach, which surfaced June 27, does not appear to have spread outside the department or to those who contract with our department,” spokesperson Maggie Shepard wrote. “Substantial security protocols between LOPD and court partners will affect the timeliness of court proceedings across the state.”
Shepard said the best way for the public and clients to interact with LOPD is through phone calls and office visits.
“Despite extensive cybersecurity procedures at LOPD, this breach places LOPD in a growing group of government agencies targeted by hackers in New Mexico and nationally,” she said.
In January 2022, Bernalillo County was hit with a ransomware attack that crippled operations as employees had to work remotely, affected systems were taken offline and network connections were severed. Early estimates suggested it would cost around $191,000 to replace laptops damaged by the malware. Earlier this year, the Administrative Office of the District Attorneys was hit with a ransomware attack, affecting the offices of at least three district attorneys in the state.