"US Senator Ron Wyden accused the federal judiciary of "negligence and incompetence" following a recent hack, reportedly by hackers with ties to the Russian government, that exposed confidential court documents. The breach of the judiciary's electronic case filing system first came to light in a report by Politico three weeks ago, which went on to say that the vulnerabilities exploited in the hack were known since 2020. The New York Times, citing people familiar with the intrusion, said that Russia was "at least partly responsible" for the hack."
"The CM/ECF allows parties in a federal case to file pleadings and other court documents electronically. In many cases, those documents are public. In some circumstances, the documents are filed under seal, usually when they concern ongoing criminal investigations, classified intelligence, or proprietary information at issue in civil cases. Wyden, a US senator from Oregon, said in a letter to Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts-who oversees the federal judiciary-that the intrusions are exposing sensitive information that puts national security at risk."
Federal electronic case filing systems were breached, exposing confidential and sealed court documents, including materials from ongoing investigations, classified intelligence, and proprietary civil case information. Two overlapping platforms, CM/ECF and PACER, suffered intrusions similar to a 2020 compromise, with vulnerabilities present since 2020. A second compromise was detected around July 5. The intrusions have been linked to hackers with ties to the Russian government. The breaches highlight failures to implement security practices common in other federal agencies and private industry. The exposure of sealed materials creates a severe national security threat and has prompted sharp criticism from lawmakers.
Read at Ars Technica
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