Federal judiciary websites hit by cyber attack

Websites for the federal court system were hit with a cyber-attack Friday, leaving attorneys across the country scrambling to file court documents before the end of the week.

A federal clerk from Arkansas told Fox Business the disruption to the judiciary’s websites appears to have been a “new national cyber-attack.”  Attorneys were encouraged to file physical versions of their time-sensitive documents to the court until service was restored.

The Washington Times reports the attack hit websites for bankruptcy, appeals and district courts across the U.S. for at least a few hours.  A spokesman for the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts told the paper the websites went down a little after 3:00 p.m. They appeared to be working again by 7:00 p.m.

The spokesman said authorities are investigating the source of the attack.

Fox Business' Rick Edson contributed to this report