DOJ investigating "major" ransomware attack against U.S. Marshals Service

• The DOJ is investigating how the attack happened, what exactly was taken and who was behind it.

What they're saying: "The Department's remediation efforts and criminal and forensic investigations are ongoing," the USMS told Axios.

• "We are working swiftly and effectively to mitigate any potential risks as a result of the incident."

What's happening: The U.S. Marshals Service, which protects federal courts and pursues federal fugitives, says it discovered a "ransomware and data exfiltration event affecting a standalone USMS system" on Feb. 17.

• Shortly after, the agency disconnected the system and started an investigation.
• On Feb. 22, the service briefed senior Justice Department officials on the incident. During that meeting, officials designated the attack as a "major incident."
• The incident did not affect the database involving the Witness Security Program, according to NBC News, which first reported the attack.

The big picture: News of the attack on the U.S. Marshals Service comes a few weeks after the FBI — which is also housed inside DOJ — contained a seemingly unrelated IT security breach.

• The FBI believes that incident involved a database used in child sexual exploitation investigations.

Go deeper: Decoding the government's dire ransomware warnings

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