US federal bankruptcy court operations disrupted by cybersecurity incident


Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Cyber Security" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Oct ⁠16 (Reuters) - Several online services supporting US federal courts' ⁠bankruptcy systems have gone offline following a cybersecurity ‌incident involving a court contractor, the Administrative Office of the US Courts (AOC) said on Thursday.

BAE Systems IT, a division of the ​British defense contractor BAE Systems, operates ⁠the Bankruptcy Noticing Center's (BNC) ⁠systems and websites on behalf of the federal judiciary, the ⁠AOCsaid ‌in a statement.

• BAE is "actively investigating this incident and working to restore operations," the ⁠AOC said in the statement.

• A BAE Systems ​spokesperson said ‌on Friday that the company is "aware of a ⁠security incident ​that is isolated to the BNC system" and has taken immediate steps to address it. BAE Systems is "coordinating closely" ⁠with the courts on the response, ​the spokesperson said.

• All access to the BNC systems and websites BAE operates on behalf of the judiciary and ⁠the related bankruptcy noticing process is unavailable, the AOC said.

• The BNC "produces and transmits bankruptcy notices for all federal bankruptcy courts around the country," the AOC ​said.

• Affected websites include bnc.uscourts.gov, bankruptcynotices.uscourts.gov, ⁠notices.uscourts.gov as well as the National Creditor Registration Service.

• ​The incident also "halted the BNC's ‌production and distribution of bankruptcy notices ​for bankruptcy courts," the AOC said.

(Reporting by AJ Vicens in Detroit; Editing by Rod Nickel)

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