The U.S. Federal Judiciary confirms that it suffered a cyberattack on its electronic case management systems hosting confidential court documents and is strengthening cybersecurity measures.
The organization stated that, while most documents in the system are public, certain sealed filings contain sensitive information that is now protected with stricter access controls aimed at blocking hackers.
“The federal Judiciary is taking additional steps to strengthen protections for sensitive case documents in response to recent escalated cyberattacks of a sophisticated and persistent nature on its case management system,” reads the announcement.
“The Judiciary is also further enhancing security of the system and to block future attacks, and it is prioritizing working with courts to mitigate the impact on litigants.”
The agency also underlined that cyberattacks have escalated in volume and sophistication across both public and private entities, and protecting legacy systems is getting increasingly more challenging.
This statement came in response to a Politico report earlier this week that claimed a breach had occurred on the U.S. Court system’s case management system, exposing sensitive information, including the identities of confidential informants.
Politico stated that the breach impacted multiple federal districts, affecting CM/ECF and PACER directly, which is the backbone of federal court document management.
According to anonymous sources providing this information, the Judiciary became aware of the full severity of the incident on July 4, 2025, and a related briefing followed without making any public announcements about it.
The U.S. Federal Judiciary’s announcement stops short of directly confirming a breach of confidential documents on PACER, although it strongly implies that persistent attacks may have compromised them.
Specifically, the agency’s mention of working closely with courts to mitigate the impact on litigants implies that their information has been affected.
BleepingComputer has contacted the U.S. Federal Judiciary and also the U.S. Department of Justice inquiring about the allegations made in Politico’s report, but we were directed to the published statement.
Malware targeting password stores surged 3X as attackers executed stealthy Perfect Heist scenarios, infiltrating and exploiting critical systems.
Discover the top 10 MITRE ATT&CK techniques behind 93% of attacks and how to defend against them.