US federal courts were reportedly hit by another data breach

guest · Jul 30, 2022

First SolarWinds, now this
July 29, 2022

The federal courts’ document system was hit by a breach with a “startling breadth and scope” in early 2020, according to a report from Politico that cites testimony from House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler. The Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly informed the judiciary about the breach in March and told lawmakers that an investigation is ongoing. Other lawmakers, such as Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), expressed concern that the DOJ had been hiding information about the breach and was refusing to explain it to the public and Congress.

Nadler reportedly said that the “system security failure” was the work of “three hostile foreign actors,” though, according to Reuters, security officials for the DOJ didn’t specify which countries could be involved.
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Although the SolarWinds attack is also thought to have begun in early 2020, the breach disclosed by Nadler is reportedly a separate incident.

At the moment, details about what the attackers had access to or how they managed to get into the judiciary’s systems aren’t publicly available. It’s also unclear when the attack was discovered by DOJ officials.
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EASTER · Jul 30, 2022

2020 was a couple of years ago. One can only imagine breaches reach back further but they kept it out of mainstream security announcements

guest · Jul 30, 2022

Security pros raise questions after breach of US federal court system disclosed
July 29, 2022

Serious eyebrows were raised this week when House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said at an oversight committee hearing that three unspecified foreign actors breached the federal judiciary’s document management system.

Based on various reports, the breach dates back to early 2020 and Nadler reportedly told the oversight committee Thursday that it was only in March of this year that he had learned of the full extent of the breach.
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The press reports were confusing. Some indicated that the breach was connected to the famous SolarWinds case, but Nadler was reported saying the case involving the federal judiciary’s system known as PACER CM/ECF — the acronym for Public Access to Court Electronic Records and Case Management/Electronic Case Files — was separate from the SolarWinds hack.
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Sam Curry, chief security officer at Cybereason, said one thing’s for sure in this case with the federal courts: no one knows the full scope of the breach.

“Estimating the full scope of this breach is difficult. It’s likely to be iceberg-like: only a fraction is above the waterline and visible. Was this breach part of an elaborate cover story from a nation-state that has other intentions and targets? Again, only time will tell.”
Karen Crowley, director of solutions marketing at Deep Instinct, said the attack on the U.S. federal court system has dispelled any doubts about the significance of a cyberattack against even the largest organizations.

Andrew Hay, COO at LARES Consulting, questioned why it took so long for this breach to come to light.

“A breach of this nature should not be swept under the rug or kept hidden for this long,” Hay said.
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