Brazil´s Federal Superior Court Target of Hacker Attack; Federal Police Investigating

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The computer systems of the Federal Superior Court (STJ), Brazil’s second-highest federal court, were the target of a hacker attack on Tuesday, November 3rd, reported the Chief Judge, adding that the Federal Police (PF) were called in to investigate the incident.

The attack occurred during the afternoon of Tuesday, November 3rd, and led to the interruption of several trials occurring simultaneously, by videoconference, in the six STJ divisions. The court’s systems, including its official website, were still offline on Wednesday morning, so all procedural deadlines were suspended until at least next Monday.

“Urgent demands, such as petitions for habeas corpus, will be centralized in the STJ’s presidency for the same period. Petitions may be forwarded to [email protected]”, the court advised by note.

The STJ urged all its judges and employees not to use any computer that is connected to any of the Court’s computer systems, at least until the safety of connections can be confirmed. All employees are working remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The breakdown in live streams led to the adjournment of several public cases. For instance, consideration of an appeal filed by ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s defense counsel in the case of the Guarujá Triplex (SC) was postponed. In motions for clarification, the attorneys are requesting that the sentence be more lenient, in addition to a reduction in the fine.

Another deferred case concerns an appeal by Google against a São Paulo Court of Appeals (TJ-SP) ruling that granted a petition by Ney Matogrosso for the removal of links connecting him to deputy Kim Kataguiri and to the impeachment of ex-president Dilma Rousseff.

There is still no schedule for the trials to be restarted. “All trial sessions, virtual and/or by videoconference, are suspended or canceled until the data traffic safety in our systems is restored”, reported the Court.

Source: Agência Brasil

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