As part of an ongoing effort to secure the PACER service and CM/ECF systems, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) will enforce updated PACER and CM/ECF password standards on August 25, 2025.

Users with PACER-only (search/view only) accounts (e.g., interns and externs), including PACER Administrative Accounts (PAAs), will be prompted to update their password upon login starting August 25 if they have not updated it as of May 11.

However, PACER-only users can update their password now and are encouraged to do so.
The new password must:

1. Be 14–45 characters in length.
2. Contain at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, and one special character.
3. Not contain any part of your first name, last name, username, or email address.

All PACER users must also update their password every 180 days.

To align with upcoming enforcement of the multifactor authentication (MFA) requirements, users with filing and other CM/ECF-level access who have not voluntarily enrolled in MFA by August 11 will be randomly selected to enroll in MFA and be required to update their password starting on that date. However, these users can update their password at any time.

NOTE: If users update their password before enrolling in MFA, they will NOT be required to update it again when they are prompted to enroll in MFA.