Judiciary
After PACER hack, judiciary takes ‘special measures’ and ‘technical steps,’ DOJ official says
The federal judiciary is taking “special measures” in cases in which information may have been exposed in a hack of the case management system used to upload case documents. (Image from Shutterstock)
The federal judiciary is taking “special measures” in cases in which information may have been exposed in a hack of the case management system used to upload case documents, according to Acting Assistant Attorney General Matt Galeotti.
In a briefing with reporters, Galeotti said “technical steps” are being taken, and “different filing measures” are being put into place, Reuters reports.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announced in an Aug. 7 press release that the judiciary was strengthening protections “in response to recent escalated cyberattacks of a sophisticated and persistent nature on its case management system.”
Although most of the documents filed on the courts’ electronic filing system are open to the public through PACER, some sealed documents “can be targets of interest to a range of threat actors,” the press release said.
According to CNN, some federal courts were requiring sealed documents to be filed in paper form only. They include the Eastern District of Washington, the Southern District of Florida and the Eastern District of Virginia.
Taking another tack, the Eastern District of New York was creating an online submission process outside PACER’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, known as CM/ECF, for sealed documents, according to CNN and the New York Times.
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