Information Systems and Cybersecurity – Annual Report 2025

Cybersecurity

In 2025, the Judiciary made progress on its multi-year cybersecurity and IT modernization strategy to modernize and secure its IT infrastructure to better protect the Judiciary from cyberattacks. 

Designed to improve detection of cyber threats and protection of Judiciary assets, the initiatives included security risk assessments and vulnerability management activities at the circuit level, standardization of IT asset management and security logging, data inventory and security, automation of threat response functions, and testing and integration of multi-cloud environments and security monitoring capabilities.  

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) supported external application teams throughout the year in adopting and implementing multifactor authentication on public access systems, including Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER), the document-access online tool available to the public. 

Also in 2025, the Judiciary completed deployment of foundational technology needed for the adoption of modern solutions in alignment with zero-trust architecture (ZTA) principles. ZTA is an information security model that requires verification of every user and device before access is granted to an organization’s network and information resources. 

Modernizing IT Systems and Workforce

The Judiciary is also modernizing its systems and applications, enterprise architecture, and IT workforce. 

Modernizing Systems and Applications. Development of the Probation and Pretrial Services Automated Case Tracking System (PACTS360) was completed. The new case tracking system for the probation and pretrial services programs will be used nationwide, with the rollout scheduled to begin in January 2026. The new system is a secure, cloud-based system, which will enhance officers’ productivity and effectiveness. In addition, the Judiciary’s financial management system was successfully upgraded in June 2025, which modernized system capabilities and enhanced security and performance. And progress continued on the Case Management Modernization project, which will replace the Judiciary’s aging electronic case management system with a modern, sustainable, and secure platform.  

Enterprise Architecture. Since an enterprise IT standards development process was put in place that applies to all courts and Judiciary offices, new standards have been developed. They provide enterprise-wide consistency, maintain interoperability, and minimize risks.    

Workforce Development. As part of an ongoing effort, IT leaders partnered with human resources specialists to identify ways to bolster the hiring, development, and support of a modern IT workforce. 

Defender Services IT Modernization

In 2025, federal defender IT staff advanced a multi-year effort to modernize Defender Services technology and strengthen cybersecurity. The year’s priorities included expanding cybersecurity training, introducing a secure electronic signature platform, and deploying new software to guard staff against online threats. Also, the team moved email services from outdated on-premises systems to a modern, secure cloud platform, which improved filtering and strengthened protection against cyberattacks. 

These projects are part of a broader initiative to safeguard sensitive client, witness, and Judiciary information; improve the secure use of cloud resources; and enable staff to collaborate safely with outside partners. The objective is to update national infrastructure to align with modern zero-trust security standards, ensuring that federal defender offices are prepared to meet future cybersecurity challenges.