Bankruptcy Noticing Center Back Online After Cyberattack
The system that sends notices for all federal bankruptcy courts is restoring service two weeks after an attack. Contractor BAE Systems says no data was extracted.
The Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC), which produces and sends notices for all federal bankruptcy courts, is coming back online two weeks after a cyberattack. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the contractor that maintains the platform, BAE Systems, say services are resuming.
"No other systems were affected. No data was extracted. There was no breach of any PII," a BAE spokesperson said. No hackers have claimed the attack, which was announced on October 22.
Backlog and paper notices
The BNC will process a backlog of data collected from courts since October 7 and handle new submissions at the same time. Electronic notices go out once validation is complete. Paper notices will be released in prioritized waves, depending on production capacity and mailing readiness.
Every paper notice generated since October 13 will carry a warning that it may have been sent late because of the disruption. The information in the notice remains valid, but a deadline or response period may already have passed, and recipients may get an amended notice. They are told to contact their attorney or the clerk's office website for the court named in the notice.
Emergency declaration
During the outage, the production and distribution of notices stopped. The websites BAE runs for the judiciary, including bnc.uscourts.gov and the National Creditor Registration Service, were offline.
On October 23 the Judicial Conference declared a nationwide "Bankruptcy Rules emergency." It lets judges extend deadlines and issue related orders, and it lasts 90 days, from October 9 through January 7, 2027, unless ended earlier. The court said the declaration will likely remain necessary throughout the restoration.
The Defense Department, FBI, ATF and Department of Transportation have all suffered breaches over the past three months.