Colorado’s Court Cases Are Getting Crashed By Hackers

Hard to have order in the court when hackers go rogue. The increased ease of access that online court offers is a double-edged sword — we wouldn’t have the phenomenal video of someone proving they drove without a license otherwise, but it would also be easier to keep nuisances out of the courtroom if everyone had to show up in person. Colorado’s cases are being interrupted by rogue hackers, and Denver Gazette has the story:

Someone is hacking into the Colorado court’s video streaming system disrupting often-sensitive hearings with pornography, racial slurs and videos so disturbing, staff is reportedly traumatized by them…In many instances, hackers are changing their VPN location and using the names of defendants and victims to confuse court clerks, who then unknowingly let the hacker into the proceeding.

The court interference has been going on since July. Do the hackers really have nothing better to do? Given how childish these interruptions are, they’d love seeing the new Deadpool & Wolverine movie in IMAX. I mean, they’re hackers —  they’d probably just torrent it, but that would be nicer than the alternative. It isn’t like the average Joe is in court because they want to be there; ruining their already crappy day by blasting slurs or porn is a pretty unambiguous dick move.

Hopefully the court clerks can figure out a better authentication system before just letting anyone in.

Colorado Court Hearings Live Video Streams Hacked [Denver Gazette]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.