Russians Hacked US Courts, Say Investigators

A disturbing revelation has emerged about Russia's alleged involvement in a successful cyberattack against the US court filing system, leaving investigators scrambling to determine the extent of the breach and what sensitive documents may have been compromised.

According to reports this week, the attack on Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) – a decades-old system used by courts across the country to file and maintain documentation for legal cases – appears to be part of a multi-year effort to compromise the system. The attack, which may have occurred as early as the first week of July, targeted at least eight district courts with overseas ties.

CM/ECF hosts many sensitive, sealed documents that are not available to the general public, making them a treasure trove for those with criminal and/or nation-state connections. Investigators say that the targeted documents were specifically those with overseas ties, according to reports in the New York Times. Chief judges at these courts were asked to move sensitive cases out of CM/ECF, but some may have fallen through the cracks.

Experts have long warned about the vulnerability of court files to cyber attacks, citing them as a high-value target for malicious actors and cyber criminals seeking to misappropriate confidential information and disrupt the judicial process. "Experience has shown that the Judiciary is a high-value target for malicious actors and cyber criminals seeking to misappropriate confidential information and disrupt the judicial process in the United States," said Michael Y. Scudder Jr., chair of the Committee on IT of the Judicial Conference on Courts, testifying to Congress in June this year.

Scudder also noted that in 2024 alone, the judiciary's security team blocked 200 million harmful events from reaching local court networks, highlighting the growing sophistication of cyber attacks. This isn't the first time that attackers have made it through the filing system's defenses; in 2021, CM/ECF suffered a major cybersecurity breach, later revealed to involve three hostile foreign actors.

The Judiciary is currently in the process of modernizing the filing system, replacing CM/ECF and PACER – a public portal used to access court documents. The US government's reliance on technology systems dates back to moving away from paper-based systems, but many of these systems are in dire need of modernization. In July, the US Government Accountability Office released an update to a 2019 audit of government IT systems, finding that only three of ten critical legacy systems have been addressed as of this February.

The implications of this cyberattack are far-reaching and underscore the importance of prioritizing cybersecurity in our digital age. As one expert noted, "Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline." We can all take steps to protect ourselves – including downloading Malwarebytes today – but for now, it's essential that we stay vigilant and informed about the threats that lurk in the shadows of cyberspace.

In related news, the US government has been working to strengthen its cybersecurity defenses, including a multi-year effort to upgrade legacy systems. While progress is being made, there is still much work to be done to ensure that our digital infrastructure remains secure and resilient.