RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Attorney General’s office, the state’s top prosecutorial agency led by Jason Miyares, was struck by a cyberattack this week that forced officials off the office’s computer systems.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the chief deputy attorney general of the agency sent an email on Wednesday that said nearly all of is computer systems were offline, and that Virginia State Police and other law enforcement officials were investigating the attack.
“Nearly all systems are offline, including but not limited to Net Docs, Outlook, Teams, OAG Fileshare, our VPN access, and internet connectivity via the OAG network,” Chief Deputy Attorney General Steven Popps said in an email to staff, according to the Times-Dispatch.
Miyares’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the cyberattack.
Miyares is the top prosecutor in the state. He runs the agency that provides legal services to the commonwealth’s agencies, boards, commissions, colleges and universities. Miyares’ team also works with law enforcement throughout the state.
According to the Times-Dispatch, the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Court of Appeals of Virginia offered access to a paper court filing “basket” that attorneys had previously chosen to use.