BAE Systems breach knocks out US bankruptcy court notice system

The Administrative Office of the US Courts says a cyberattack on government contractor BAE Systems has knocked out the notice system used by federal bankruptcy courts.

In a Thursday press release, the office said the incident also halted the production and distribution of bankruptcy notices. It added that it is in contact with the affected courts and is coordinating with BAE Systems, which is investigating the breach and working to restore operations.

What is down

As a result of the attack, all access to the BNC systems and websites that BAE operates on behalf of the Judiciary — along with the related bankruptcy noticing process — is unavailable. That includes bnc.uscourts.gov, bankruptcynotices.uscourts.gov, notices.uscourts.gov and the National Creditor Registration Service.

BAE Systems is Europe's largest defense contractor, designing and building military technology for the UK and US defense departments. It is also a major supplier of enterprise IT, cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity services to military, intelligence and civilian government agencies worldwide.

Spokespeople for the US Courts and BAE Systems were not immediately available for comment when asked for details on the attack.

Not the first blow to the courts

The US federal Judiciary said last year that it was strengthening its defenses after a cyberattack hit its electronic case management systems. While most documents in the system are public, it now protects certain sealed filings containing sensitive information with stricter access controls.

The Judiciary said it was taking extra steps to protect sensitive case documents in response to "recent escalated cyberattacks of a sophisticated and persistent nature" on its case management system. It stopped short of confirming that confidential documents had been breached. A Politico report at the time, however, said hackers had broken into the CM/ECF case management systems and the PACER document platform, gaining access to sensitive data — including the identities of confidential informants.

Source: Bleeping Computer