Judiciary Restricts Access to Sealed Records After Cyber Hack

Federal trial courts are issuing new orders restricting access to sealed documents, following a directive from the judiciary’s administrative office to address escalated cyberattacks targeting the courts’ case system.

The standing orders, posted by more than 20 federal courts across the US since Monday, state that while sealed documents may be filed within the judiciary’s online case management system, known as CM/ECF, those documents won’t be able to be viewed or accessed electronically.

The orders are intended to comply with recent instructions by the Administrative Office of the US Courts to federal courts to further restrict sealed documents, multiple federal court notices said.

The judiciary’s administrative office is implementing a new Sealed Document Security system, which was scheduled to take effect Tuesday pending successful testing, “to address identified security vulnerabilities and strengthen the protection of restricted filings,” according to a notice posted by the New Mexico federal trial court.

A spokesperson for the AO said the judiciary is “continuously working in collaboration with Congress and our law enforcement partners to strengthen protections for sensitive case documents,” and declined to comment further on the changes.

The changes come over a month after the judiciary revealed it had experienced “escalated cyberattacks of a sophisticated and persistent nature” on its case management system. The management system includes Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF), used to upload court papers, and PACER, which allows the public to access some court documents.

The hackers targeted sealed documents in espionage and other sensitive cases in a breach of the case management system, using similar vulnerabilities exploited in another hack five years ago, Bloomberg Law has reported. Bloomberg News reported that Russian government hackers lurked for years in the judiciary’s records system.

A classified briefing was held on Sept. 9 in the Senate about the cyber attack against the judiciary, according to Josh Sorbe, a spokesperson for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers on committees handling issues affecting the judiciary, funding for the courts, and intelligence were seen entering the meeting.

In some cases, the judiciary’s new guidance would loosen restrictions put in place this summer in response to the latest breach on the judiciary’s system.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, known for handling high-profile national security cases, issued an order in late July requiring that all sealed documents be filed as hard copies only.

The federal trial court in Maryland issued an order in August changing its filing procedures for sealed documents in criminal cases, and the new guidance means those documents “may once again be filed electronically,” according to a standing order posted Wednesday by the court.