• President Trump is on a roll to dismantle several government organizations
• Organizations include the U.S. Agency for International Development and U.S. Department of State grantees and contractors
• Global relations will suffer with severing ties to intercontinental discussions
• The American Bar Association leads the charge stating the act is unconstitutional

Let The Lawsuits Begin

2025 has been a whirlwind of a year, and it is only February 13^th! The flurry of executive orders has been followed by many impeding lawsuits. In the wake The American Bar Association has now filed a suit of their own. This suit includes seven co-plaintiffs from a diverse pool of organizations. These organizations include the and U.S. Department of State grantees and contractors. The move is to challenge the Trump administration withholding foreign assistance funding ().

“Actions of President Trump and other executive branches to dismantle the USAID, established by Congress, is unprecedented. The Bar Association is unable to overstate the impact of this issue. The administration seeks to halt funding even though Congress had previously authorized the programs in question,� stated by William R. Bays, president of ABA. An organization, who through partnerships worldwide, aim to build fair justice systems.

Going Against the Grain

“The rule of law and participation of democracies worldwide creates favorable partnerships with U.S. interests and enhance global markets,� Bay said. “The purpose of ABA is to advance public understanding and appreciation for law. These programs help reduce and precent illicit activities like drug and human trafficking from reaching the U.S.� Bay included: “All administrations have the right to review programs to set priorities. But those actions must adhere to constitutional and statutory requirements. The ABA has filed suit to make sure changes are consistent with the rule of law.�

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The post Trump Shakes up Government Funding: Removes USAID first appeared on Â鶹APP Corporation.

KEY ISSUES

• Washington Administrative Office of the Courts system down for two weeks
• Alleged cyberattack involving ransomware through ‘unauthorized activity’
• Involving outside counsel to investigate the security breach

Initial Outage and Why?

Â鶹APP is a Washington-based company that relies on access to the Washington Court’s Odyssey on-line system to provide its customers with court records search and retrieve services. Court records research is ‘Mission Critical’ to our customers’ core businesses. The court outage during the first two weeks in November of this year impacted 1,000 + Â鶹APP customers as well as many other businesses across the country. Thousands of businesses that rely on court research were unable to conduct research, and in many cases unable to conduct business. The outage reached a point where several organizations threatened litigation if the problem was not solved in a timely manner.

Initially, and through the outage duration, the AOC provided no substantive explanation as to the cause of the outage, nor when service would be restored ().

The outage began on Sunday November 3^rd around noon. Service was restored on November 18^th. On November 25^th the AOC posted additional outage information on its FaceBook page. The AOC wrote:

‘..The WA Administrative Office Courts (AOC) network took immediate action to secure the server after what was called “unauthorized activity.� The AOC was alerted of the attack originally on October 29^th, 2024, by a user of the system. A virus was also detected by the court’s primary software that could be potentially threatening.

Decision agreed upon by both authorities

The Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts made the decision, after conversing with the Chair of Judicial Information, to shut down the entire system. This action was taken on November 1^st, to isolate the network. A leading cyber security organization was tapped to investigate the issue. The AOC states that the two-week outage was essential for containment, and for a systems rebuild in a better environment with stronger security measures.

JIS applications were back up and running by November 18^th, and available for use. It was confirmed that the issue came from a specific site, unrelated to Washington State or any courts. AOC is claiming that their fast actions had prevented a potential ransomware or data attack. Confirming that all information held within the system was unchanged during this process.

The Administrative Office of the Courts will continue monitor all services through the end of 2024. ‘

This outage was a brutal wake up call to all our us who depend on current, accurate court records for out business processes. Hopefully, the AOC was and is able to fortify its operations to efficiently operate in today’s often hostile virtual environment.

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The post Full Recap of the Washington State AOC Odyssey Outage first appeared on Â鶹APP Corporation.

KEY ISSUES

• Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts Odyssey system is still spotty
• The WAAOC Security team is still conducting investigations into the outage
• WAAOC has confirmed that there was no ransomeware attack due to the quick isolation
• Still minimizing disruptions by withholding certain courts and Blake Refund Bureau, Appellate Court Document Portal, and e-filing.

Current State of the WAAOC

The Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (WAAOC) still down going on three weeks. Their office has come under extreme scrutiny due to this incident. While court systems are coming back online the resources are still spotty. Only providing certain coverage in select court systems to minimize risk moving forward. The team concluded that ransomeware attacks were not initiated due to the quick response of the courts. Isolating the court system and shutting down access was a key component in security of the system. The following statement has been issued by the WAAOC on its public facing Facebook page ().

“Washington Courts Network Status Update (Nov 18): The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is in the process of bringing up systems on the Washington Courts network, following successful work and testing throughout the weekend.

While forensic analysis is ongoing, according to security experts, AOC has taken all steps necessary at this time to secure systems and the unauthorized activity that was detected has been eliminated.

We can confirm that there was no detected breach of data and the event did not result in ransomware, due to quick action taken to isolate and secure the network. A post-event release will follow the next meeting of the state’s Judicial Information System Committee in December as we learn more.

As we continue to bring up the system, it is anticipated that there will be intermittent disruptions as the network and its applications are highly interconnected and operating in a new technical environment.

To help minimize disruptions, the Blake Refund Bureau, the Appellate Court Document Portal and e-filing for appellate courts will continue to be offline until the network is stable.

We appreciate the public’s continued patience as we work towards providing full restoration and functionality.”

With this statement courts are still down in select areas. With no certain quote on when service will be restored. This also comes on the heels of building lawsuits from disgruntled organizations. Some organizations include the Second Amendment Foundation () and National Sport Shooting Foundation (NSSF). All organization urged the courts to complete the restoration in a timely manner. Again, this issue was resulting in a long backlog of gun applications from the Washington State Patrol office. T

he State Patrol office is the single entity in charge of background checks. Organizations were claiming instead of depending on the WAAOC, the State Patrol should be using the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS). This system is funded and facilitated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

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The post Latest Update: WA State Courts Odyssey System Outage Status first appeared on Â鶹APP Corporation.

KEY ISSUES:

• Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts is still offline
• The NISC and SAF organizations are pressing for the system to come back online post haste
• This outage effects all organizations that capitalize on court document research and retrieval to conduct business (Law firms, title agencies, Gun Screening, Employment Screening, etc.)
• WAAOC is working with the Washington State Bar Association to effectively create a website to organize the future/incoming requests to be completed when the system is back online ().

All Washington State clients that have been waiting on the WAAOC there is hope. With the most recent update on the outage for the Odyssey system posted below, we are here for our clients in all industries ranging from corporate law firms, to private investigators.

With any further questions about connectivity or court document search and retrievals, feel free to contact Â鶹APP Corporation associates by way of our contact form located on our homepage. The statement below is provided by the WAAOC Facebook page, on the most recent status update for the current outage, and what to expect.

November 13, 2023 – Network Outage Update

Work is continuing to progress to restore the Washington Courts Network. At this time, we are cautiously optimistic that systems will be operational next week. Due to the interconnectivity of the network, all systems will be restored simultaneously once work has concluded.

In the meantime, we have partnered with the Washington State Bar Association to create a website to house all emergency orders of the courts that have been filed during this network outage. Please visit and stay tuned to this page for further updates as they become available.”

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The post Washington State Courts System Outage: What It Means for Legal Proceedings first appeared on Â鶹APP Corporation.

KEY ISSUES

• Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts offline due to security issues beginning November 3rd, 2024
• Originally estimated 1-week outage, now going on 13-days
• Gun dealers unable to complete applications with the State Patrol Firearms Background Division
• Legal action to be taken if outage continues to delay firearm registrations

WAAOC Effect on the Gun Dealer Applications

Within the United States the Second Amendment is a key topic of today’s person right to protect and right to bear arms. Now, this being such a pivotal piece of the American way of life, you would think that ‘computer difficulties’ would not be able to cripple an entire state’s ability to fulfill this constitutional right. But, for Washington State, this is the case due to what is being described as ‘unauthorized activity’ within the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts.

National Instant Criminal Background Check System

Since November 1^st, all legal gun purchases have been halted. Computer systems connected to the Secure Automated Firearms E-Check (SAFE) have been compromised. This technical program outage has caused a backup in applications. When Washington State could simply process through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) system ().

Employees had experienced the system outage and did not circumvent the issue. The entire system was shut down making it impossible for gun dealers to run background checks. Private sales are outlawed in Washington State. As a result all legal avenues of purchasing and selling a gun have been shut down.

Seattle Times has reported that even the associate director for the WAAOC was unable to disclose the cause of the outage due to specific security protocols. “due to cautions, we proactively shut down the systems to secure our source. We are working around the clock with our team to bring the AOC Odyssey portal back online as soon as possible,� Wendy Ferrell.

Originally, officials estimated the AOC Odyssey portal would be down one week. Going on 12-days now the system is still offline. It appears that the WAAOC is not have any sense of urgency to return the portal to working order.

Demands by the Washington State Patrol’s Office

Kevin Baird, Washington State Patrol assistant commander of the State Patrol’s Firearm Background Division last week issued communication to all gun dealers around Washington State.

“We are effectively on hold and any applications submitted November 1^st onward, until the system is back online will not be processed. Until then, we cannot make any determinations on any checks. Currently, we are working through the backlog of applications pre-November 1^st. But these could also be delayed as well due to the system outage. We will do our very best to return checks completed within 10-business days.�

Larry Keane, the Senior VP and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) insisted that state officials move the NICS program for a “sufficient alternative to maintain both security and access.� He did echo the statement with a warning that the outage would not be tolerated after a center duration ().

Coupled, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) also followed the NICS’ actions vowed legal action if this issue was not solved in a timely manner. Using phrase like “simply unacceptable� and “Washington citizens have the constitutional right to firearms,� claiming legal action is the only remedy if the outage continues.

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The post Washington State Court Outage Halts Gun Registrations: What You Need to Know! first appeared on Â鶹APP Corporation.