Purported bankruptcy survey is a virus, federal appeals court warns electronic filers
Updated: The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is warning users of its electronic filing system about a pop-up “survey” that is actually a virus.
According to the court, a lawyer reported that while he was logged into the electronic filing system, a popup message invited him to take a survey from the bankruptcy court, the South Florida Lawyers blog reports. The lawyer clicked “OK” and his computer was infected with the virus.
“Please know that we do NOT currently have a survey being sent through CM/ECF or any other source,” the 11th Circuit announcement says. “If you receive an email or pop-up requesting your participation in a survey from our court, do not open it. Please delete it.”
Charles Hall, a spokesperson for the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, tells the ABA Journal that the courts have received only one complaint about the virus, which is not generated by the federal courts’ information technology system.
“Attempts to hack computer systems are widespread across the Internet, and the judiciary devotes substantial resources to protecting the integrity of its IT systems,” Hall said. “In this case, the virus scheme is not connected with the judiciary’s IT systems.”
Hat tip to Above the Law.
Updated at 3:05 p.m. to include comments by Hall.
