South Africa Justice Department ransomware disrupts courts and payments

On 06/09/2021, South Africa’s Department of Justice and Constitutional Development reported a ransomware attack that encrypted its IT systems, taking all internal and public e-services offline, including letters of authority, bail services, email, and the departmental website. The department activated manual contingencies to keep court sittings going. Child maintenance payments were delayed, with MojaPay functionality partially restored and most payments processed on 15/09/2021; by 10/10/2021 the department said services, including online systems, maintenance payments, and electronic court recording, were virtually back to normal.