US judiciary warned of election-year hacking risk

With presidential elections less than two months away, key members of the United States federal judiciary on Tuesday were warned to guard against the risks of cyber breaches by foreign actors who could seek to interfere with election-related litigation and spread misinformation.

Speaking during a meeting of the US Judicial Conference — the judiciary's top policy-making body in Washington — US Circuit Judge Michael Scudder who chairs a committee on information technology for the federal courts warned of potential election-year hacking risk.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Scudder said: "Now is a time when everyone in the judiciary needs to stay alert and be extra smart and vigilant in all aspects of our use and monitoring of our IT systems."

He cited public reporting from the US intelligence community that "foreign adversaries see this election season as an opportunity to spread misinformation and to sow doubt about the workings and stability of our national government."

US intelligence agencies last month accused Iran of launching cyber operations against the campaigns of both US presidential candidates, including a hacking operation targeting Republican former President Donald Trump's campaign.

Scudder, who serves on the Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals, said that while he knew of no current cyber threat involving the courts, "we must presume the judiciary faces this same risk."

"The reporting out of the intelligence community has emphasised just the risk to the nation as a whole," he said, adding: "And it takes really no imagination in our view to see election-related litigation potentially hit the courts again this upcoming cycle."

In 2020, three "hostile foreign actors" breached the federal judiciary's document-filing system, Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler, who at the time headed the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, said during a hearing in 2022.

The cyberattack prompted the judiciary to change how it handles sensitive documents at the lower court level.