On May 11th, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) will begin implementing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to enhance system security for Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) and Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER). MFA provides an added layer of security to accounts by helping protect against cyberattacks that steal passwords, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized access. Once implemented, all CM/ECF and PACER users will be able to enroll in MFA. Users with filing and all other types of CM/ECF-level access will be required to enroll in MFA, while users with PACER-only access will have the option to enroll.
From mid-May to the end of 2025, users with any type of CM/ECF-level access who do not voluntarily enroll will be randomly selected to do so. These randomly selected CM/ECF users will be notified of the MFA requirement during login. By the end of 2025, everyone with CM/ECF-level access will be required to use MFA when logging in.
PACER-only accounts that do not have filing privileges in any court and only query will not be required to have MFA enabled but will have the option to enroll. All other accounts that can file in ECF will be required to enroll.
Please see the announcement on the PACER website which details the impending changes:
https://pacer.uscourts.gov/announcements/2025/04/04/multifactor-authentication-coming-soon
For more information on the transition to MFA contact the PACER Service Center:
https://pacer.uscourts.gov/
800-676-6856