Contractor Cyberattack Knocks Out US Federal Bankruptcy Notice System

A cyberattack on British multinational BAE Systems has disrupted the Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC), the platform that produces and transmits bankruptcy notices for all federal bankruptcy courts in the United States. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said all access to the BNC systems and websites that BAE operates for the judiciary is unavailable, including the National Creditor Registration Service. Production of bankruptcy notices has also halted.

BAE Systems said it is aware of a security incident that is isolated to the BNC system and has taken immediate steps to address it. It is working with the courts' administrative office on the response. The office did not say what type of incident it was or whether any data was stolen. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency referred questions to the U.S. Courts, and the FBI did not respond to requests for comment.

The incident follows other attacks on court systems. Weeks earlier, Arizona's state court system was breached and the information of more than 1.3 million people was leaked. Last year, federal court officials said they were strengthening security for sensitive documents after a major hack of the courts' case filing system, and the federal docketing system was also attacked in early 2020. This story shows how a problem at one supplier can disrupt an entire national service.