Key members of the US federal judiciary received a warning from one of their colleagues on Tuesday to be vigilant against potential cyber breaches by foreign entities aiming to disrupt election-related litigation and disseminate misinformation.
US Circuit Judge Michael Scudder, who chairs the committee on information technology for the federal courts, highlighted the potential risks of election-year hacking during a meeting of the US Judicial Conference, the judiciary's highest policymaking body, held in Washington, DC.
"Now is the time for everyone in the judiciary to remain alert and exercise extra caution and vigilance in all aspects of our IT systems' use and monitoring," Scudder told reporters during a press conference following the meeting. He referenced public reports from the US intelligence community indicating that "foreign adversaries view this election season as an opportunity to spread misinformation and create doubts about the functioning and stability of our national government."
US intelligence agencies recently accused Iran of conducting cyber operations against the campaigns of both US presidential candidates, including a hacking attempt targeting the campaign of Republican former President Donald Trump. Scudder, who serves on the Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, stated that although he was unaware of any current cyber threats to the courts, "we must assume that the judiciary is exposed to this same risk."
"The intelligence community's reports have underscored the risk to the nation as a whole," he said. "And it requires little imagination to foresee election-related litigation potentially affecting the courts again in this upcoming cycle." In 2020, three "hostile foreign actors" infiltrated the federal judiciary's document-filing system, according to Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, who was then the chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.
This cyberattack led the judiciary to alter its procedures for handling sensitive documents at the lower-court level.
