Following an investigation by the SSU, notice of suspicion was served to a former head of the state enterprise Information Judicial Systems of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine.

The official organized unauthorized access to the information resources of Ukrainian judicial system, as a result of which they were subjected to a large-scale cyber attack and were destroyed in late 2018 – early 2019. Subsequently, Ukrainian judicial system of Ukraine did not function properly for several months.

Thanks to the intervention of the SSU, it was possible to neutralize the vulnerabilities in the information system caused by such actions; the examinations initiated by the SSU indicated that several persons had been involved in subversive activities, including the officials responsible for information technologies of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine.

It turned out that the former head of the state-owned enterprise, using his authority, granted several developer companies unauthorized remote access to the network and server equipment of the data center of the Information Judicial Systems SE while they were working in regular mode providing services to citizens of Ukraine. This meant unlimited access to:

• information on auto-distribution of court cases;
• unified state register of court decisions;
• electronic account of users;
• document circulation of Ukrainian courts;
• other services of the judicial system.

At the same time, IT specialists refined and developed software products not on test servers, as required by law, but on working servers that ensured functioning of the judicial system. This caused new vulnerabilities, which hackers took advantage of.

So far, the former top official has been notified of suspicion under Article 361.1 of the CCU (unauthorized interference in the work of information (automated), electronic communication, information and communication systems, electronic communication networks).

The investigation is ongoing.

The operation was carried out by the SSU Cyber​​Security Department together with the SBI under the procedural supervision of Kyiv City Prosecutor’s Office.