A cybersecurity incident at BAE Systems has halted the production and delivery of bankruptcy notices for every federal bankruptcy court in the United States, disrupting a core administrative function of the judiciary with no announced date for restoration.
The Bankruptcy Noticing Center, known as the BNC, produces and transmits notices in bankruptcy cases nationwide. BAE Systems, a defense contractor, operates the center’s systems and websites on behalf of the federal judiciary. In a statement published Thursday, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said the incident affected BAE’s information technology and the websites supporting the center’s operations.
The office said BAE is investigating and working to restore operations.
“We are aware of a security incident that is isolated to the BNC system and have taken immediate steps to address it,” a BAE Systems spokesperson told CyberScoop. “No other systems have been affected.”
The disruption has taken the center’s websites offline, including bnc.uscourts.gov, bankruptcynotices.uscourts.gov and notices.uscourts.gov, along with the National Creditor Registration Service. It has stopped the production and distribution of notices, paper and electronic, since Oct. 9.
As of Friday, those websites were still offline.