Online services at the Judiciary were “cut as a pre-emptive measure.”

That's the explanation the Judiciary has given for Wednesday’s shutdown of its digital services, which stopped work at courts across the country.

Service was restored early on Thursday morning.

Newsrooms and Judiciary staff, including judges, received a one-line e-mail at 3.05 am which said: "Restoration of Disrupted Judiciary Online Services: The Judiciary wishes to advise that on July 12, 2023, it cut its online services as a pre-emptive measure. The online services have been restored.”

On Wednesday, staff were told they would not be able to access official e-mail or their computerised calendars “until further notice.”

The Law Association also advised its members of the disruption of the Judiciary’s digital service, since many attorneys complained they could not file documents for their cases.

The Judiciary’s website was unavailable and e-mails were returned with an error message.

Some virtual court hearings after that time were said to be affected when the virtual system shut down unannounced.

Judges complained of not receiving information from the Judiciary’s administration, and had to contact attorneys by telephone and WhatsApp to reschedule cases for next week.

On Tuesday, Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, said investigations were under way into a recent cyber attack on his ministry. He said he could not comment while the investigations were taking place.

Last Friday, the Ministry of Digital Transformation revealed there had been an attack on the AG's ministry and that action was being taken to minimise the threat.

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