back to article US court system suffered 'incredibly significant attack' – sealed files at risk

The United States' federal court system "faced an incredibly significant and sophisticated cyber security breach, one which has since had lingering impacts on the department and other agencies." That quote comes from congressional representative Jerrold Lewis Nadler, who uttered them on Thursday in his introductory remarks to …

  1. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    Popcorn

    I look forward to seeing what kind of secret justice has been going on.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Popcorn

      From what I have seen of the US legal system, applying the word 'justice' to it appears to be mainly marketing :(.

      1. TVU Silver badge

        Re: Popcorn

        "From what I have seen of the US legal system, applying the word 'justice' to it appears to be mainly marketing :(."

        ...and these days the Supreme Court appears to be only dispensing Trumpian 'justice'.

      2. MachDiamond Silver badge

        Re: Popcorn

        >From what I have seen of the US legal system, applying the word 'justice' to it appears to be mainly marketing<

        Delete "US" and use a universal placeholder and you've accurately described the world.

    2. Kibble 2
      Big Brother

      Re: Popcorn

      Probably star chamber stuff from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court...

      Pass the popcorn plz.

  2. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    SNAFU

    If Uncle Sam is dealing with the escape of information and knowledge on systemic attack side vulnerabilities and catastrophic defence weaknesses rather than secretive type energetic powers they might be concealing, removing them is the only guaranteed secure solution ensuring no future deeper expanding problems ‽ .

    If they can’t or don’t do that, is much more of the same sort of pain and loss of past gain naturally bound to increase with a greater number of practically unknown actors doing their very best to take full advantage of the leads and vulnerabilities and weaknesses discovered and found being widely shared amongst allies and enemies alike engaged in such novel sectors of deep disruptive interest and/or creative endeavour granted/securing for themselves unbridled remote unauthorised access to an indefensible store of extremely nasty unsupportable secrets.

  3. Blazde Silver badge
    Holmes

    Let's focus on the perp..

    If a Congressman still young enough to almost-but-not-quite read the word 'ostensibly' without hesitating is willing to call this an 'incredibly sophisticated' attack we can probably rule out all those suspects below the age of, say, 9 years old?

    Edit: I've not been able to uncover evidence of rep. Nadler in the same room as a computer however he is capable of using telephones someone else is holding, so he knows tech: https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/rep-jerrold-nadler-d-n-y-does-a-phone-interview-in-statuary-news-photo/74896896

  4. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Trollface

    The sweeping effect on operations is staggering

    Is it staggering enough to call IBM ?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Anything which confounds officialdom

    is always a "highly sophisticated" operation. Because they are hardly going to admit they were fooled by bazza98@gmail.com are they ?

    In the UK, the CPS states that using a timer switch to control lights growing cannabis is a "sophisticated industrial process". You'd think the jury would wonder at that, and seeing Beavis and Butthead in the dock ....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Anything which confounds officialdom

      I had nothing to do with it.

      Cheers

      Bazza

  6. An_Old_Dog Silver badge
    Holmes

    "highly sophisticated" attack

    So, did the perps exploit single-directory ftp configuration (incoming dir == outgoing dir) and open mainframe IND$ service (unauthenticated job submission)?

  7. Mike 137 Silver badge

    Extent and mechanism still unknown?

    'The rep's remarks appear to refer to the January 2021 disclosure [...] of "an apparent compromise" of confidentiality in the Judiciary's Case Management/Electronic Case Files system (CM/ECF)'

    Eighteen months down the line and nothing is known yet about the extent or mechanism of the breach? Or are they staying shtum "for reasons of national security"?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Regional data centres

      Probably the former, although the reasons given will be the latter.

  8. Kev99 Silver badge

    Let's put EVERYTHING on that bunch of holes held together with a bit of string. What a bunch of maroons. Use DEDICATED lines for internal data and very limited external data on the 'net. You know, as was done for decades before Berners-Lee wrecked society.

    1. MachDiamond Silver badge

      "Use DEDICATED lines for internal data and very limited external data on the 'net."

      In the real world where there are files made from pieces of paper with writing, sensitive files are kept in a separate room with more secure locks. In some places one cannot even access the corridor with the doors that lead to those file rooms. In the virtual world, sensitive files are kept in a whole other building by a third party that doesn't always keep track of whose is allowed in the building or not and many things are all stored together in the same room so they are easier to find.

      Yes, security is a PIA, but that's a feature, not a bug. If certain information is too sensitive to be made available to the public, it should be difficult to access and only through a very narrow channel that's continuously monitored (and air-gapped). If the door keeper understands that they might wind up shackled very briefly to a wall early one morning, they might do a better job of checking credentials.

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