Anyone needing to appear at a Superior Court proceedings in Benton and Franklin counties will need to head to the hearings in person.
Wednesday morning’s criminal docket in Benton County Superior Court came to a screeching halt when someone hacked into the online court broadcast and began blaring music and displaying pornographic videos.
Court administrators told the Tri-City Herald that the WebEx system used to broadcast the proceedings was compromised by hackers.
The images continued to play for about an hour before the system was shut down in Benton and Franklin counties, which share a joint Superior Court. It’s not clear how long it will take for it to be restored.
District Court broadcasts were not affected.
The regular Benton Superior Court docket at 8:30 a.m. was already underway Wednesday, with people in the courtroom and viewers watching online, when shortly before 9 a.m. it was disrupted by loud siren-filled music and profanity-laced shouting.
Judge Jackie Shea Brown started to warn the hacker to stop until her audio shut off. All the proceedings were then moved to in-person only.
It appeared the first hacker logged out or was kicked out, but that person was followed by others logging in and broadcasting split-screen images of sex acts.
Swastikas were posted in the corners of the screen.
After awhile, a printed message appeared on the screen claiming the system was “hacked by the CCP” and a video of a Klu Klux Klan rally began to play.
It’s unclear how widespread the problem is.
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