A cyberattack on the Office of Colorado State Public Defender has forced the office to shut down its computer network, locking public defenders across the state out of critical work systems.
Colorado public defenders do not have access to their work computers, are unable to access court dockets or court filings and can’t do any significant work for clients in court, according to internal emails reviewed by The Denver Post.
Office spokesman James Karbach confirmed the breach in a statement Monday, saying officials “recently became aware that some data within our computer system was encrypted by malware.”
Karbach did not say how long the public defender’s office expects to be shut down or when the attack happened, but emails sent to public defenders indicate the statewide office is effectively “non-operational” and the outage could last as long as a week.
The “cyber security incident” was underway by about 11 a.m. Friday, according to an emailed notice sent from the Colorado Judicial Department’s Information and Technology Service’s to judges and judicial personnel. The notice indicates that the cyberattack does not pose a threat to the wider court system.
“As a preventative measure, we temporarily disabled our computer network and are working to safely and securely bring systems back online,” Karbach said. “Our operations will be limited while the network is offline.”
Kolachi cafe on Emerson St lost most its power on Monday and was forced to close temporarily at a peak time. Pictured are owner Jaz Singh (left), along with his staff team. Photo / Gary Hamilton-Irvine
A power outage took out supply to a chunk of Napier’s central business district during a busy retail period with passengers from two cruise ships in town.
The unscheduled outage hit late morning on Monday and was caused by a suspected cable fault, according to Unison.
The outage started at 10.41am and power began to return to some businesses by 11.15am, but power supply continued to fluctuate in the city for the next 45 minutes.
The outage affected about 200 properties on Dickens St, Dalton St, Station St, Emerson St, Hastings St and Marine Parade, among others.
Some shops and eateries were without power for over an hour. All properties had power returned by noon.
The outage hit as passengers from two cruise ships, the 3100-passenger cruise ship Grand Princess and the 2770-passenger Resilient Lady, were in town.
The owner of Kolachi cafe on Emerson St, Jaz Singh, said it was tough timing, and they were forced to close while the power was out and eventually opted not to reopen for the day as it was one of the last areas to have power restored.
“We have no other option than to close at this point because we don’t know when power is returning,” Singh said during the outage, which hit his cafe for more than an hour.
Increasing attacks on the Power Grid Highlight the Need for Ballistic Protection Around Major U.S. Substations and Critical Infrastructure.
Press Release –
Jan 19, 2023
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Bank of America notified customers Wednesday of possible delays for transactions made via digital payment network Zelle.
Daniel Tepper
Bloomberg
Bank of America experienced delays in online transactions conducted via Zelle for much of the day Wednesday, but those problems were resolved by the afternoon, the bank said.
On outage tracker DownDetector.com, irate customers reported missing funds and unexpected negative balances due to problems with the digital payment network.
“Zelle transactions made between January 14th and January 17th may be delayed in occurring and posting to accounts as requested,” the Charlotte-based bank said in an online notice, displayed when customers log into their bank accounts on Wednesday. “Transfers will be completed and will appear in your account activity and balances as soon as possible.
“We apologize for any delay or inconvenience.”
Bank of America declined to say what caused the outage, when asked by The Charlotte Observer.
The initial delay surprised account holders, many of whom took to Twitter and other social media to air their grievances. Some said the delay had caused their bank account to slip into the red.
“So cool how @BankofAmerica magically disappeared a large Zelle transaction that HAD ALREADY POSTED and I had used to pay bills,” one user posted. “Now I’m extremely in debt in my checking and I can’t get ahold of them. Unbelievable.”
Zelle users frustrated with delays
Customer reports of outages at Bank of America spiked on Wednesday morning, according to Down Detector.
“I woke up this morning to a negative balance. There is no way to speak to a customer service agent,” one user commented on the site. “This problem needs to be fixed immediately so (I) can have access to my funds!”
Another user wrote that she’d seen transferred funds disappear after using them to pay bills. She now has those funds back.
“(But) unfortunately 3 payments that went out yesterday after Zelle was in there (Car Payment, Car Insurance and Cell phone/Internet) all have been returned,” the user wrote. “This is not good. Now I have to call all these places and explain.”
Zelle is a peer-to-peer payment network similar to PayPal or Venmo that lets users send money from their online accounts to people at different banks.
What is Zelle?
Zelle is a peer-to-peer payment network similar to PayPal or Venmo. It allows users to digitally send money from their account to users at different banks.
Created in 2017, the network is operated by Early Warning Services LLC, a company co-owned by seven banks: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Truist, U.S. Bank, PNC and Capital One. But many other banks use Zelle — a total of more than 1,700.
Zelle is now the country’s most widely used money transfer service, with more than double Venmo’s payment volumes, MarketWatch reported in October.
Unlike Venmo, CashApp or other similar services, Zelle transfers money instantaneously from bank account to bank account with no entity in between.
Zelle controversies and problems
The payment service also has been the subject of heightened scrutiny over the last several months, with legal advocates and lawmakers pointing to growing rates of fraud on the app.
In a Senate banking committee hearing in September, Sen. Elizabeth Warren chided bank executives for not responding to her request for data on the number of fraudulent Zelle transactions reported.
“You built the system, you profit from every transaction on the system and you tell people that it is safe. But when someone is defrauded, you claim that’s the customer’s problem,” the Massachusetts Democrat told the CEOs of America’s largest banks during the hearing.
Warren has continued her criticism of Zelle, tweeting as recently as Tuesday that she would continue to press banks on the issue.
“Zelle is a money-making bonanza for sophisticated scammers and fraudsters,” the senator wrote. “The big banks that own and operate the platform have a lot more work to do to make victims whole and protect consumers from future harm — so I’m going to stay on it.”
Zelle is a money-making bonanza for sophisticated scammers and fraudsters. The big banks that own and operate the platform have a lot more work to do to make victims whole and protect consumers from future harm—so I’m going to stay on it.https://t.co/WEvTTaVEu4
In November, Bank of America was the subject of a federal lawsuit claiming it marketed Zelle services as easy, safe and secure in large part because it was “backed by banks.”
Instead, the suit argued, Zelle comes with a high risk of fraud for consumers and little chance of being paid back by the bank if customers get scammed.
Capital One and TD Bank have faced similar legal challenges regarding their use of the payment network. Both suits said the banks marketed Zelle as safe without sufficiently warning customers about fraud risks.
And late last year, The New York Times reported that the banks behind Zelle had prepared a major rule change in 2023 that would compensate more customers who fall victim to scams. That would reverse the current policy which often sticks account holders with such losses, the Times reported.
This story was originally published January 18, 2023 11:48 AM.
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Hannah Lang covers banking, finance and economic equity for The Charlotte Observer. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Triangle Business Journal and the Greensboro News & Record. She studied business journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and grew up in the same town as her alma mater.
