photo by: Kansas Judicial Branch

The Kansas Supreme Court justices are pictured in this undated photo. Back row, left to right: Keynen "K.J." Wall Jr., Caleb Stegall, Evelyn Z. Wilson, Melissa Taylor Standridge; front row, left to right: Eric S. Rosen, Marla Luckert, Dan Biles.

The Kansas Judicial Branch restored online access to its statewide records system on Tuesday for records filed prior to a foreign cyberattack in October; however, users may still encounter some technical difficulties.

The online portal to search for district court cases throughout Kansas was brought back online after a “sophisticated foreign cyberattack” shut down the state’s digital court filing and records system on Oct. 12, 2023, according to a release from the Kansas Judicial Branch. The online portal also allows users to pay fines, fees and court costs online.

However, the online portal is currently out of date because files have not been added to its database since the cyberattack, the release said. The online portal is part of a phased restoration of the state’s records systems that began in December starting with the Kansas eCourt case management system that attorneys and court officers use to track what has been filed in a case but not to access the actual records.

“In the short time we’ve offered free online case search for district courts as part of our Kansas eCourt modernization plan, it has become our most popular service,” Chief Justice Marla Luckert said in the release. “Restoring the ability to search case information online is yet another major milestone in our restoration plan.”

According to the release, the court is still working to restore additional systems, including the eFiling system, which is used by attorneys and justice partners to file documents electronically; the Kansas Protection Order Portal, which handles online filings related to protection-from-abuse orders, stalking and human-trafficking; online marriage applications; and systems related to the appellate court.

As of Tuesday morning, the Kansas District Court public access portal website was online but records were still unavailable remotely. A clerk with the Douglas County Records Office said in an email that the system may be experiencing some overload and crashing due to the number of people trying to access the system but that the public terminals in the records office at the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E 11th St., were functioning.