A federal appeals court judge has warned members of the U.S. federal judiciary to guard against possible cyberattacks by foreign adversaries who may interfere in election-related cases.
U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Scudder, who chairs a committee on information technology for the federal courts, warned of the potential election-year hacking risk during a meeting of the U.S. Judicial Conference, the judiciary’s top policymaking body, in Washington.
“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,” Scudder told reporters during a news conference after the meeting on Sept. 17.
Citing public reports from the U.S. intelligence community, the judge warned that “foreign adversaries see this election season as an opportunity to spread misinformation and to sow doubt about the workings and stability” of the U.S. government.
“The reporting out of the intelligence community has emphasized just the risk to the nation as a whole. And it takes really no imagination in our view, to see election-related litigation potentially hit the courts again this upcoming cycle,” Scudder, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, told reporters.
“We’re well into this election season. We thought ... that it would be a very opportune time just to underscore the importance of being extra careful.”
Scudder did not name any specific threats that could target the federal judiciary.
Last month, U.S. intelligence officials accused Iran of trying to carry out cyberattacks against the presidential campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Officials with the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said in a statement: “[The U.S. intelligence community is] confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the Presidential campaigns of both political parties. Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the U.S. election process.”
Their statement also confirmed that “recently reported activities to compromise” Trump’s campaign could be attributed to Iran.
The Iranian Permanent Mission to the United Nations said in a statement at the time that the allegations that Iran tried to breach the two presidential candidates’ campaigns were unsubstantiated.
However, it found that no foreign actors were trying to interfere in the “conduct of the 2024 elections” such as through “cyber or physical disruptions of election infrastructure.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton, the chairman of the Judicial Conference’s executive committee, said that judges were also warned on Sept. 17 to pay attention to their personal safety.
“That’s become very expensive, making sure that we have the resources in this remarkable world we’re in,” Sutton told reporters after the meeting. “But you really have to worry about security in a way you didn’t have to 20 years ago, right?”
In 2020, three “hostile foreign actors” breached the federal judiciary’s document-filing system, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who at the time headed the House Judiciary Committee, said during a hearing in 2022.
