For about a week, US federal bankruptcy courts have been unable to send official notices to debtors, creditors and attorneys. The blockage follows a cyberattack on BAE Systems, the British defence and aerospace company that runs the Bankruptcy Noticing Center (BNC) on behalf of the federal judiciary. The BNC produces and transmits all notices for bankruptcy cases nationwide.
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) published its notice on October 15, 2026, describing a "cybersecurity incident." According to the notice, all access to the systems and websites BAE operates is unavailable: bnc.uscourts.gov, bankruptcynotices.uscourts.gov, notices.uscourts.gov and the National Creditor Registration Service. The disruption has halted production and distribution of notices, both by mail and electronically. The outage dates back to October 9.
Officials have not said which systems were compromised or who may be responsible. It is also unclear whether bankruptcy records or sensitive financial data were stolen.
Courts hit in at least twenty states
The effects are felt nationwide. At least twenty states, including California, Florida, New York, Texas and Illinois, plus Puerto Rico, have posted notices reporting delays, temporary procedures or postponed hearings. The Alaska bankruptcy court, one of the first to comment, has postponed scheduling creditor meetings for all cases filed after October 9 until operations resume. Other courts have issued emergency orders with alternative notification methods and changed deadlines.
The concrete risk is that people involved in a bankruptcy miss deadlines or information about hearings and creditor meetings, with possible serious financial consequences.
Who BAE Systems is
BAE Systems, formed in 1999 from the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems, has more than 210 offices in over forty countries and about 111,000 employees. Besides the US Department of Defense and the US military branches, it is a contracted IT provider for critical infrastructure. A spokesperson for its US unit confirmed the incident, saying it is "isolated to the BNC system" and that no other systems have been affected. The company is coordinating its response with the AO.
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