"The Administrative Office of the US Courts has been in communication with the impacted courts and is also coordinating with BAE Systems. BAE is actively investigating this incident and working to restore operations," the Administrative Office said in a Thursday press release.
BAE Systems outage halts federal bankruptcy notice systems
The Administrative Office of the US Courts reported that a cyberattack on government contractor BAE Systems has taken down the notice system used by federal bankruptcy courts and halted the production and distribution of bankruptcy notices. The AO said all access to the BNC systems and the websites that BAE operates on behalf of the Judiciary are unavailable, including bnc.uscourts.gov, bankruptcynotices.uscourts.gov, notices.uscourts.gov, and the National Creditor Registration Service.
Administrative Office and BAE Systems coordinating while investigators work
According to the AO press release, the Judiciary is communicating with impacted courts and coordinating with BAE Systems as the contractor "actively investigat[es] this incident and work[s] to restore operations." BleepingComputer reported that spokespersons for the US Courts and BAE Systems were not immediately available for comment when contacted earlier today for more details on the attack.
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End the scrambleWhy BAE Systems matters to the Judiciary
The company named in the alert is described in the source material as Europe's largest defense contractor and a major provider of enterprise IT, cloud infrastructure, and cybersecurity services to military, intelligence, and civilian government agencies worldwide. That combination of government contracting and operational responsibility for critical judicial notice systems explains why the contractor outage directly affected federal bankruptcy notice delivery and related web services.
Context from last year: the Judiciary's prior cybersecurity changes
The AO's notice arrives against a backdrop the federal Judiciary began to acknowledge publicly last year, when it said it was strengthening cybersecurity defenses after a cyberattack impacted its electronic case management systems. The Judiciary stated that although most documents in the system are public, it had implemented stricter access controls for certain sealed filings that contain sensitive information "designed to block attackers." A contemporaneous Politico report cited in the source said that hackers had breached CM/ECF electronic case management systems and the PACER federal court document management platform, gaining access to sensitive data, including the identities of confidential informants.
What this means for bankruptcy courts, creditors, and cybersecurity teams
- Bankruptcy courts and creditors: Courts that rely on BAE-operated noticing services are without automated production and distribution of bankruptcy notices while the systems remain offline. Creditors who expect notice through the National Creditor Registration Service and the named websites will see disruption until BAE restores service.
- Cybersecurity teams and technologists: The AO statement and the prior Judiciary guidance underscore a continued focus on protecting sealed filings and case-management infrastructure. The incident highlights operational exposure when a third party operating core services experiences a cyber incident.
- Procurement and government contractors: The event places attention on the operational dependencies created by contracting arrangements in which a private vendor operates public-facing judiciary services—arrangements the AO said it is coordinating around as BAE investigates and restores service.
Next steps for the Judiciary and BAE Systems
The AO has framed its immediate action as coordination with impacted courts and with BAE Systems while the contractor investigates and works to restore operations. The press release does not say whether confidential or sealed filings were affected in this specific incident. Given last year's Judiciary moves to tighten access controls after a prior breach of case-management systems, the most concretely stated near-term actions in this event are investigation and restoration of the notice platforms named by the AO.
As the Judiciary and BAE Systems proceed, questions the press release leaves explicit are operational: how long restoration will take, whether any sensitive filings or registrations were exposed, and what interim notice or creditor-registration arrangements courts will use while the listed sites remain unavailable. The AO’s public message for now is focused on coordination and restoration while BAE investigates the attack.
Source: BleepingComputer — BAE Systems cyberattack disrupts US federal court operations
