On February 17, 2023, it was revealed that the US Marshals were hit with a significant ransomware attack that potentially compromised sensitive information belonging to employees. Following this, the Department of Justice held a meeting on February 22 with USMS and concluded that the ransomware attacks were severe and breached the confidentiality of sensitive law enforcement information. After the meeting, a spokesperson for the DOJ, David Wade, came out with a statement
Wade stated: “The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, administrative information, and personally identifiable information about subjects of USMS investigations, third parties, and certain USMS employees.”
Department of Justice employees has been scanning the internet to see if the person(s) behind the ransomware attack published the information. While no information has been discovered yet, investigators are still searching.
US Marshals officially put out a statement saying, “The analysis of the impact of the event is ongoing, and at present, it is unknown to what extent personally identifiable information related to certain USMS employees was compromised.”
The Department of Justice has launched a full-scale investigation to understand whether the compromised material will affect anyone involved in the federal court system, whether it be judges or defendants. Federal judges are not alone in being under threat of having their information stolen, chief district judges have also been contacted. No leads have been discovered about who was responsible for the attack.
While no leads have been discovered, USMS has decided to upgrade the organization's security system. They will begin resetting all passwords of some US Marshals, they use “PACER,” a service used to find electronic court records.
US Marshals have come under fire in recent years, with two significant incidents causing public distrust of the organization. The first incident was on June 29, 2021, in Charlotte, NC, with the shooting of Frankie Jennings. This resulted in his death, and the marshal was not charged, triggering public outrage.
The second incident occurred on February 16, 2023, when a US Marshal shot Donavan La Bella in the head with impact munition causing severe injuries but no fatality. If anyone has any information regarding either the perpetrators of the crime or information that was stolen, please contact the USMS here.
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