Jul. 3—The New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender was the victim of “a significant cybersecurity breach” last week that could affect criminal court proceedings and client information security.

The agency announced the attack in a news release Wednesday afternoon. Maggie Shepard, a spokeswoman for the statewide offices, said officials did not know exactly how the attack occurred, but the breach was discovered June 27.

Clients of the Law Offices of the Public Defender should call the office or visit in person, since email services are down for the entire office, Shepard said. She did not have an estimate for when the office’s email would be up and running again.

The hack has resulted in attorneys for the office returning to a “paper system” for court filings, Shepard said. Instead of emailing motions and briefs, attorneys and their staffers have been physically submitting filings to the courts.

“Our attorneys are having to be so nimble right now and find every way they can to keep our clients cases moving appropriately,” she said.

Shepard said “it doesn’t appear” any personal information of clients or employees had been stolen in the hack, but officials were still investigating the incident.

“We are responding to this security breach as an emergency doing our absolute best to guard our clients and our court partners,” Chief Public Defender Ben Baur said in the news release. “Our primary focus is to protect the confidential information of our colleagues and those we represent and to restore our systems to full functionality.”