Hack of federal court filing system exploited security flaws known since 2020

Source: Politico

08/12/2025 11:04 PM EDT


A sweeping hack of the federal judiciary’s case filing system exploited unresolved security holes discovered five years ago — allowing hacking groups to steal reams of sensitive court data in the ongoing breach.

POLITICO first reported last week that officials are concerned that multiple nation-state and criminal hacking groups exfiltrated sealed case data from at least a dozen district courts since at least July. The attack mirrored another significant breach into the court filing system in 2020 under the first Trump administration, though it was not clear until now how the hackers slipped inside the system and whether both incidents were connected.

Despite the sensitive court data that was exposed, the ongoing cyber intrusion was not particularly sophisticated and took advantage of issues previously uncovered inside the federal court filing system, according to one person with direct knowledge of the hack and one senior U.S. law enforcement official. The system — called CM/ECF — enables legal professionals to upload and manage court documents

The latest intrusion is a “continuation of the same rudimentary security issues” that have been present since 2020, said the law enforcement official. This person, like others in this story, was granted anonymity due to the sensitive and ongoing nature of the incident.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/12/federal-courts-hack-security-flaw-00506392