- The sensitive files held by the US courts are being attacked
- The American judiciary is strengthening its IT infrastructure after incidents
- The DOJ, DHS and others were called to help
The American judicial system has confirmed the suffering of a cyber attack, and says that it is now working to reinforce its systems to avoid greater incursions.
In a press release published on the website of the US courts, the body said that it recently experienced: “intense cyberattra of a sophisticated and persistent nature.”
Without detailing the attacks, or the perpetrators, the announcement said that the criminals were pointing to their case management system, pointing to confidential files housed there.
Courts in the sights
“The vast majority of the documents presented before the Electronic Case Management System of the Judiciary are not confidential and, in fact, they are easily available to the public, which is fundamental for an open and transparent judicial system.
However, some presentations contain confidential or patented information that are sealed from public hearing, ”reads the announcement.
“These confidential documents can be objectives of interest for a variety of threat actors. To protect them better, the courts have been implementing more rigorous procedures to restrict access to delicate documents under carefully controlled and monitored circumstances.”
The announcement does not go into details about reinforcement efforts. He says that the administrative office of the United States courts is working with Congress, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of National Security (DHS) and other agencies.
The US courts, both local and federal, have often been subject to different cybercriminals.
In 2020, a cyber attack against the Federal Court system of the United States ended up being much more harmful than he initially thought, and in 2024, unidentified computer pirates attacked judicial systems throughout the state of the United States of Washington, forcing the judicial organization to close parts of their infrastructure to avoid additional damage.
In the summer of 2024, the Superior Court of the Los Angeles County, the largest in the United States, suffered a ransomware attack that forced him to close his entire operation for a day.
