The U.S. federal court system’s filing system was attacked this summer for the second time since a 2020 incident under the first Trump administration. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which manages the filing system, detected the attack around July 4th.[1] The attack forced some federal district courts to revert to paper filings as “the best way to secure sensitive case documents.”[2] The attack has serious repercussions as sensitive court data could threaten the lives of witnesses and upend ongoing and pending criminal investigations.[3] The attack exploited unresolved vulnerabilities that had been known since the previous attack.[4] As in the previous attack, Russia is suspected of being behind the breach this time as well.[5] The U.S. federal courts released a statement following the attack announcing their commitment to “further enhancing security of the system and to block future attacks.”[6] The current filing system, which was rolled out in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, has been flagged as being “outdated” and “not sustainable.” However, its decentralized nature makes it a complex and expensive problem to tackle. As of now, there is still no timeline for a new system.[7]
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