A malware attack on the state public defender’s computer system last week has resulted in the disabling of the office’s network, the office confirmed on Monday.

A spokesperson for the Judicial Department said the courts themselves were not affected by the cyberattack.

“As a preventative measure, we temporarily disabled our computer network and are working to safely and securely bring systems back online. Our operations will be limited while the network is offline,” said James Karbach, the communications director for the public defender’s office.

One judge told Colorado Politics that they learned of the problem as early as Friday afternoon. Eric Ross, a spokesperson for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, said he was not notified until nearly 72 hours later.

“Public Defenders will still appear in court today,” he wrote in an email, “but it’s our understanding they will not have access to anything running on their IT network. It will be up to the judges presiding over cases to decide how to handle or reset proceedings to a future date.”

Jeff Chostner, the district attorney for Pueblo County, confirmed the public defender’s outage is statewide. He said it will not affect the outcome of cases, but will impact the processing of criminal matters.

Kate Singh, a spokesperson for the Fourth Judicial District Attorney’s Office in El Paso and Teller counties, stated their office was not subject to any ransomware attacks.

“Our systems are not impacted by the Public Defender’s system breach,” added Rob McCallum, a judicial spokesperson. “We are secure and fully operational.”

Reporter Zachary Dupont contributed to this article. This story has been updated to reflect Eric Ross’ correct role.