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Protecting District Attorney Offices from Data Breaches

Written by Nathanael Iversen | Aug 27, 2025 12:01:04 AM

The Rising Threat

Sadly, no one is exempt from the rise of ransomware and data exfiltration, not even Courts or District Attorney’s offices. Whether a big public spectacle or a small intrusion that is caught before serious damage, the plain fact is that a security breach takes time and effort away from the critical mission of the office.

While the average cost of a data breach sits at $4.5M globally, District Attorney’s offices face additional exposure in terms of notification requirements and civil penalties. Many states require organizations to notify the affected individuals and a variety of state authorities. The research, time and legal fees associated with preparing these notices can be substantial. Civil penalties can be assessed if the district attorney’s office is found negligent. Given that the data a district attorney’s office works with is almost entirely sensitive personal information with the possibility for severe reputational damage, the stakes are high! If unauthorized access occurs, public safety, victims and protected witnesses may be at risk.

Critical Data at Risk

The most critical data in a district attorney's (DA) office typically relates to case tracking, management, and outcomes. This information is essential for making informed decisions, ensuring accountability and transparency, and evaluating the justice and efficiency of prosecutorial activities. For modern DAs, the most sensitive and high-volume data is digital evidence, which is typically managed through secure, centralized, and scalable systems. 

  • Digital Evidence Management Systems (DEMS): These systems provide a central, cloud-based platform for managing evidence from multiple sources, including body-worn cameras, dash cameras, and CCTV footage. Platforms like Axon Justice and NICE Justice are examples of these systems, which also offer features like AI-powered transcription and automated discovery sharing.
  • Case Management Systems (CMS): Most DA offices use a CMS to collect, store, and manage records, documents, and files required for cases. These systems streamline the office's ability to retrieve, edit, and archive case information.
  • Secure cloud servers: To address the growing volume of digital evidence, many offices are moving toward secure, cloud-based storage, rather than keeping files on local servers or physical media like DVDs and hard drives. Cloud storage ensures data is protected by encryption and accessible to authorized personnel from different locations.

How Zentera Secures DA Offices

Zentera helps organizations isolate and protect each of these data stores from datacenter servers to legacy and OT devices and even cloud assets. We do this by putting these systems into virtual chambers with least privilege access control.

We can inspect the user credentials, device posture and even validate that the correct application is in use before granting access. Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) are supported. A secure user portal enables Users to be local or remote, as the case requires. Encryption ensures that all flows are protected end-to-end, even in transit. All user access is logged for audit purposes.

When you put case management and digital evidence assets in a chamber, you immediately remove 80-90% of the East-West attack surface. The chambers eliminate lateral movement, prevent breach spread, and work even if your EDR or Antivirus fail!  You can’t compromise a system you can’t get to!

In the constantly shifting world of case management, Zentera secures data and critical collaboration workflows.

Prevent Data Exfiltration:
Zentera creates Zero Trust overlay networks that isolate sensitive systems - like those storing case records - from unauthorized access. Even if a device is compromised, lateral movement and data extraction are blocked at the network level.

Secure Access to Case Files:
Access is tightly controlled based on identity, device posture, and
application context, ensuring only authorized personnel-such as prosecutors, investigators, or approved external partners - can access specific case files.

Protect Witnesses and Victim Identity:
By segmenting data and enforcing granular access policies, Zentera minimizes exposure of personally identifiable information (PII), shielding individuals involved in criminal cases from malicious actors, leaks, or retaliation.

Enable Remote Investigations:
Staff can access sensitive data from outside networks (e.g., during court sessions or investigations) without exposing the broader internal network to threats, thanks to Zentera's secure overlay and encrypted ZTNA access. Whether inside the home office, in the field, or in court, the same access and controls are available.

This approach ensures comprehensive protection of legal records and the individuals those records involve, without disrupting operations. Virtual chambers are transparent to the existing network and firewall configurations and work with all 3rd-party security tools. Full API support is available to automate chamber creation, management and deletion.

Zentera delivers segmentation and access control you can deploy without a giant multi-year project or tearing your network apart. Put your critical systems in a chamber and secure your most important data from compromise and exploit.