Cyber Incident Takes Bankruptcy Noticing Center Offline, Halting Notice Production for Federal Bankruptcy Courts Nationwide
Several online services supporting the federal bankruptcy system have gone offline after a cybersecurity incident at a court contractor, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOC) said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
In a statement, the AOC said BAE Systems IT, a unit of British defense contractor BAE Systems, operates the Bankruptcy Noticing Center's systems and websites on behalf of the federal judiciary, and is investigating the incident and working to restore operations. The center produces and transmits bankruptcy notices for all federal bankruptcy courts in the country. All access to the center's systems and websites, and to the related noticing process, is currently unavailable, the AOC said, and production and distribution of bankruptcy notices has halted. Affected services include bnc.uscourts.gov, bankruptcynotices.uscourts.gov, notices.uscourts.gov and the National Creditor Registration Service.
A BAE Systems spokesperson said on Friday that the company was aware of a security incident isolated to the noticing center system, had taken immediate steps to address it, and was coordinating closely with the courts.
According to notices issued by several federal courts, the disruption began on October 9 and affects both electronic and paper notices, with possible delays in delivering notices including those for meetings of creditors. Courts said they continue to accept filings; the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas said in guidance issued Thursday that it would keep accepting filings, opening cases and processing documents, that scheduled hearings would proceed unless the court ordered otherwise, and that parties could request deadline extensions or hearing postponements. (GSM, based on Reuters reporting)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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