Abraham Jewett  |  August 1, 2022

Category: Legal News

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Hacking Padlock With Flags Showing Hacked 3d Illustration - court security breach
(Photo Credit: Stuart Miles/Shutterstock)

Federal court security breach overview: 

  • Who: Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, revealed a 2020 federal court security breach was worse than originally reported. 
  • Why: The federal judiciary’s electronic document filing system was affected by a security breach in 2020 that was allegedly originally downplayed to the public. 
  • Where: The disclosure came during a hearing on oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division. 

The chair of the House Judiciary Committee has revealed a 2020 security breach of the federal court electronic document filing system had a bigger impact than what was initially disclosed. 

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., explained during an oversight hearing for the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division that his office was informed in March of the actual scope of the security breach, Law360 reports. 

Nadler called the cyberattack a “security failure” and claimed the security breach had a “disturbing” impact on pending criminal and civil litigation along with matters of national security and intelligence. 

Nadler questioned Matt Olsen, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) National Security Division chief, during the oversight hearing with the latter confirming the agency was actively investigating the incident that had previously been described as an “apparent compromise,” Law360 reports. 

Olsen reportedly said he was not aware of the court security breach hindering any cases involving the DOJ while asking for more time to evaluate if it had done so. 

“This is of course a significant concern for us given the nature of the information that is often held by courts,” Olsen said, according to Law360. 

Federal court security breach disclosed to public in January 2021

The federal court security breach was disclosed to the public in January of last year, only one day after the U.S. government reportedly accused Russian spies of being behind a breach of several federal agencies. 

Nadler testified he was informed the federal court security breach was unrelated to the incident purportedly involving the Russian spies, Law360 reports. 

Still, Olsen reportedly revealed authorities in the United States believe the federal court security breach was carried out by a foreign nation-state; however, he did not disclose what country was concluded to be behind the attack. 

“It’s very difficult to ever be in a position to say that any system is 100% safe when it comes to sophisticated nation-states that seek to obtain persistent access to these systems,” Olsen testified, according to Law360. 

Several class action lawsuits revolving around data breaches have been filed recently, including ones targeting Marriott International and Mangatoon.

Have you been affected by a data breach? Let us know in the comments.


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3 thoughts onFederal court security breach deeper than originally thought

  1. Annette. Barnes says:

    Add me to the list

  2. Tina Yelverton says:

    Data breach with broadband an google

  3. annette cunningham says:

    please include me

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