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Officials fear that drug cartels in Latin America are among those who have obtained sensitive judicial data due to a widespread cyberattack on the federal judicial case system, raising concerns that the groups will now be able to target cooperating witnesses involved in criminal trials against them.
The concern, according to three judicial officials and investigators with knowledge of the cyberattack, is that cartels could use the stolen data as a weapon to identify witnesses in cases the federal government has opened against them, or to gain knowledge of upcoming or ongoing criminal investigations, such as closed wiretap warrants and search and seizure warrants.
Politico first reported on the cyberattack, which the U.S. Administrative Office of the Courts designated as serious, in early July.
At least a dozen district courts in several U.S. states are believed to have been directly affected by the ongoing compromise of the digital case filing system, known as CM/ECF, according to two people familiar with the matter. The incident is believed to be one of the most serious cyberattacks on the federal case filing system in years.
It is unclear whether the cartels were directly linked to any of these violations, as multiple nation-states and criminal groups are believed to have infiltrated the CM/ECF at the same time, and at least some of these groups have been inside the system for years, the first two people said. All three were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.
It is also possible that the cartels are buying the data from other hackers who have access to the system.
The news of cartels gaining access to sensitive criminal court records comes at a time when the Trump administration is ramping up federal government efforts to prosecute criminal activity by drug gangs in Latin America, such as Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and the Sinaloa cartel.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump has signed a secret order authorizing the Defense Department to use military force against certain drug cartels.
The CM/ECF system allows legal professionals to upload and manage court documents. Some of them are kept sealed and others are made available to the public through PACER, the external side of the system.
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