Cyber Incident Disrupts Bankruptcy Notices Across U.S. Courts
Summary
A cybersecurity incident disrupted electronic and paper bankruptcy notices nationwide, delaying communications and affecting access to creditor mailing lists. The judiciary said BAE Systems was investigating; restoration timing and whether data was stolen were unknown.
Key points
- The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts identified the outage as a cybersecurity incident Thursday; the disruption began Friday, Oct. 9.
- BAE Systems operates the Bankruptcy Noticing Center, which produces and sends notices for all federal bankruptcy courts.
- Electronic and paper notices were affected, including notices for creditor meetings, and courts reported problems accessing creditor mailing lists.
- The Northern District of Texas said it would continue accepting filings, opening cases, and processing documents; scheduled hearings would proceed unless otherwise ordered.
- The district allowed parties to request deadline extensions or hearing postponements and provided an alternate way to retrieve creditor addresses, while warning the list might be incomplete.
- The judiciary said the affected systems included the center’s bankruptcy-notice websites and the National Creditor Registration Service.
- No attack method or responsible group was identified, and it remained unknown whether information was stolen. BAE and the judiciary were working to restore operations, with no restoration date confirmed.
Article Details
- Victim Organization
- U.S. federal bankruptcy courts
- Incident Type
- Cybersecurity incident disrupting bankruptcy-notice production and delivery
- Operational Impact
- Production and delivery of electronic and paper bankruptcy notices halted, delaying notices and orders and impairing access to creditor mailing lists. Courts continued accepting filings and conducting other business. Restoration timing was unconfirmed.
- Claim Status
- confirmed
Vendors
Products
Bankruptcy Noticing CenterCourts identified the outage as a cybersecurity incident Thursday. BAE Systems operates the Bankruptcy Noticing Center, which produces and sends notices for all federal bankruptcy courts.National Creditor Registration ServiceThe judiciary said the affected systems included the center’s bankruptcy-notice websites and the National Creditor Registration Service, which supports access to mailing addresses.