Attorney General's office back to 100% after July cyber breach

The Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs (AGLA) has returned to full "operational functionality" after a cyber breach on July 1. Confirmation came from the Ministry of Digital Transformation on Monday.

A statement from the Digital Ministry said, at that time, the breach forced a shut-down of internal network operations including e-mails, file access and online connectivity.

It said affected departments included the Solicitor General’s Office, Chief State Solicitor, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and other administrative functions.

"Immediate steps were successfully taken to isolate the incident and contain the impact of the security breach. Subsequent forensic investigations were able to determine the point of entry into the system and confirm that there had been no similar incidents across AGLA and other associated offices."

The ministry said the services of local and international partners were engaged to ensure the government responded "in a manner that is consistent with leading international practice and to suppress the risk exposure associated with these types of events."

It said an inter ministerial response team collaborated with international experts in the field of cyber-security and worked to recover data, restore and sanitise the operating systems and significantly strengthen its resilience against similar incidents in the future.

"The digital environment is both fluid and dynamic, and we have emerged from this experience with enhanced vigilance, competence and capability. This type of occurrence is among the common challenges we face in this digital era and we have demonstrated that we are capable of matching the task at hand with confidence and agility."

The ministry apologised for any inconvenience caused to the public.