Kremlin Hackers Breach US Court Systems, Endangering Confidential Informants

Russian hackers have been crawling through America’s federal court systems since 2021, and nobody noticed until this August. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts finally confirmed what investigators suspected: Russia-linked threat actors had compromised PACER and CM/ECF, the electronic filing systems that basically run the federal judiciary. Nice security, folks.

At least eight district courts got hit, including courts in New York, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, and Arkansas. The hackers weren’t interested in boring civil disputes about property lines. They wanted the good stuff—sealed indictments, arrest warrants, and criminal records that weren’t supposed to see daylight. Their particular obsession? Cases involving Russians and Eastern Europeans. Wonder why.

The breach is a disaster for national security. These sealed records contain names of confidential informants, details about ongoing investigations, and intelligence operations that could now be blown wide open. Imagine being an informant whose identity just got handed to Russian intelligence. Sleep tight.

Sealed informant identities potentially exposed to Russian intelligence—a catastrophic breach of trust with life-threatening consequences.

Federal administrators called the attackers “persistent and sophisticated,” which is government-speak for “we got completely owned.” The hackers exploited vulnerabilities in systems that apparently nobody thought to properly secure. By the time administrators detected the breach and reported it to the Justice Department, who knows how much data had already walked out the door.

The response has been pure panic mode. Courts sent out memos labeled “URGENT MATTER” demanding immediate action. Sealed documents are now being yanked off regular systems and stored offline or on separate drives. Chief judges are removing high-risk cases from digital workflows entirely. Eastern District of New York judge Margo Brodie went so far as to prohibit uploading any sealed documents to PACER at all. It’s like watching someone install deadbolts after the burglars already cleaned out the house.

Legal experts are freaking out about what this means for judicial integrity and privacy. Future informants might think twice about cooperating if their identities could end up in Moscow’s hands. The courts are conducting a massive overhaul of their cybersecurity protocols, which should have happened years ago. This isn’t even Russia’s first rodeo—they pulled a similar stunt during the 2020 SolarWinds hack, using that breach to steal sealed court documents from PACER.

The attack is still ongoing. Let that sink in. While federal officials scramble to patch their systems, Russian hackers might still be poking around, grabbing whatever they missed the first time through.