Overview

• Investigators say a cyber intrusion into CM/ECF and PACER systems may have exposed sealed criminal dockets and confidential informant identities.
• An internal memo to Justice Department officials, clerks and chief judges labeled the breach urgent and confirmed that “persistent and sophisticated cyber threat actors have recently compromised sealed records.”
• Chief Judge Margo K. Brodie and other jurists ordered that sealed filings be removed from PACER and relocated to offline or air-gapped repositories.
• Multiple districts have tightened security with multifactor authentication, restricted sealed document uploads and reinstated paper-filing protocols first used after a 2021 intrusion.
• Forensic teams from the DOJ, FBI, DHS and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts continue probing the breach even as President Trump publicly downplays the reports ahead of his meeting with Vladimir Putin.