Following the sweeping hack to the federal courts' Case Management/Electronic Case Files system (CM/ECF), some federals courts are issuing orders that all documents under seal shall be filed only in paper formats (previous coverage available here).
Courts have begun to issue standing orders to address the filing of documents under seal. For instance, the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Maryland courts have required that confidential documents may no longer be filed electronically.
In the Eastern District of Virginia, the courts now "require that all sealed documents be filed only in paper format."
Similarly, in Maryland, "Effective immediately, sealed documents may no longer be filed electronically on CM/ECF in criminal cases" and parties wishing to file any material under seal in criminal cases must file the documents by paper in person or by U.S. Mail (emphasis in original).
In a Thursday statement, the federal judiciary said it’s “taking additional steps to strengthen protections for” that information. It also said it’s “further enhancing security of the system and to block future attacks, and it is prioritizing working with courts to mitigate the impact on litigants.”