News of the Cyber World

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US FEDERAL COURT FILING SYSTEM HACKED

Russia blamed for federal court system hack that exposed cases and info on confidential informants

Evidence suggests that Russia is partly responsible for a recent hack of the federal court records system, which may have exposed sensitive information about criminal cases and confidential informants, according to a report.

The hack, which Politico first reported last week, is believed to have compromised information about confidential sources in criminal cases across numerous federal districts. The attack is believed to have occurred in early July.

It’s not immediately clear which Russian entity was involved, several people familiar with the matter told the New York Times.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which manages the electronic court records system, declined to comment on the reported revelations. The Independent has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

Some criminal case searches involved people with Russian and Eastern European surnames, the outlet reported.

Court system administrators informed Justice Department officials, clerks and chief judges in federal courts that “persistent and sophisticated cyber threat actors have recently compromised sealed records,” according to an internal department memo seen by the NYT.

Some records related to criminal activity with international ties were also believed to have been targeted. Chief judges were also warned last month to move cases fitting this description off the regular document-management system, the outlet reported.

Margo K. Brodie, chief judge of the Eastern District of New York, ordered “documents filed under seal in criminal cases and in cases related to criminal investigations are prohibited from being filed” in PACER, a public database for court records.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts issued a statement last week saying that it is taking steps to further protect sensitive court filings, noting that most court documents filed in the system are not confidential.

“The federal Judiciary is taking additional steps to strengthen protections for sensitive case documents in response to recent escalated cyberattacks of a sophisticated and persistent nature on its case management system. The Judiciary is also further enhancing security of the system and to block future attacks, and it is prioritizing working with courts to mitigate the impact on litigants,” August 7 statement read.

Although the statement didn’t address the origin of the cyber attack or which files were compromised, the NYT reported that federal courts in New York, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Arkansas were included in the breach.

In January 2021, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts acknowledged “widespread cybersecurity breaches.” At the time, the office said highly sensitive documents could be filed in paper form or using a secure electronic device, such as a thumb drive, and stored in a secure stand-alone computer system rather than filed on the electronic case files system.

Donald Trump Reacts to Alleged Russia Hack into Federal Court System

President Donald Trump reacted to a question on Wednesday regarding evidence that Russia is at least in part responsible for a recent hack of the computer system that manages U.S. federal court documents.

The New York Times reported on the investigation Tuesday, citing several people briefed on the breach.

The president was asked during a press conference at the Kennedy Center, "There is new reporting that the Russians have hacked into some computer systems that manage U.S. Federal court documents. I wonder if you've seen this reporting and if you plan to bring it up to President [Vladimir] Putin when you see him later in the week?"

Trump replied, "I guess I could. Are you surprised, you know? They hack in, that's what they do. They're good at it, we're good at it. We're actually better at it."

Trump continued, "I've heard about it."

Why It Matters

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts said last week in a news release that it has been experiencing "escalated cyberattacks of a sophisticated and persistent nature on its case management system."

The majority of documents on the case management system are available to the public, but some documents are sealed due to confidential or proprietary information. The U.S. Courts office said courts are implementing "more rigorous procedures" to restrict access to these sensitive documents.

Did Russia Hack U.S. Federal Court Filing Systems? What We Know

The New York Times reported that Russia is at least partly responsible for the recent hack of the case management system, citing several people briefed on the breach.

It is not clear what entity is responsible, if Russian intelligence is involved, or if other countries were also involved.

What is PACER?

The Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) service allows the public to access federal court records.

AI

Nearly Half of Employees Are Using Banned AI Tools at Work

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms rapidly reshape U.S. workplaces, there's a growing rift between employee behavior and company policies.

Nearly half of employees said they were using banned AI tools at work, according to a survey by security company Anagram, and 58 percent admitted to pasting sensitive data into large language models, including client records and internal documents.

Why It Matters

The widespread, sometimes covert, use of AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot is exposing organizations to mounting cybersecurity, compliance, and reputational risks.

The onus increasingly falls on employers to train their teams and set clear AI governance, yet recent reports indicate most are lagging behind. Workplace culture, generational attitudes, and inadequate training further muddy the waters, leading to what experts call "shadow AI" use.

What To Know

The findings were stark in cybersecurity firm Anagram's survey of 500 full-time U.S. employees across industries and regions.

Roughly 78 percent of respondents said they are already using AI tools on the job, often in the absence of clear company policies, and 45 percent confessed to using banned AI tools at work.

Nearly six in 10 (58 percent) said they have entered sensitive company or client data into large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini. And 40 percent admitted they would knowingly violate company policy if it meant completing a task more efficiently.

"This poses significant threats. The content input into external AI systems may be stored or used to train models, risking leaks of proprietary information," Andy Sen, CTO of AppDirect, a B2B subscription commerce platform that recently launched its own agentic AI tool, devs.ai, told Newsweek.

"The company may not be aware that AI tools have been used, creating blind spots in risk management. This could lead to noncompliance with industry standards or even legal consequences in regulated environments."

These findings are consistent with other reports.

A KPMG-University of Melbourne global survey of 48,340 professionals in April found that 57 percent of employees worldwide hide their AI use from supervisors, with 58 percent intentionally using AI for work and 48 percent uploading company information into public tools.

AI usage already has strong industry and generational divides.

Younger workers, particularly those in Generation Z, are at the forefront of AI adoption; nearly 50 percent of Gen Z employees think their supervisors do not understand the advantages of the technology, according to a 2025 UKG survey.

Many Gen Z workers have self-taught their AI skills and want AI to handle repetitive workplace processes, though even senior leaders encounter resistance and trust barriers in fostering responsible use.

"Employees aren't using banned AI tools because they're reckless or don't care," HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek. "They're using them because their employers haven't kept up. When workers are under pressure to do more with less, they'll reach for whatever tools help them stay efficient. And if leadership hasn't set any guardrails, that's not a worker problem."

There's also a lack of proper AI education, compounding risks in the workforce.

Fewer than half (47 percent) of employees globally say they have received any formal AI training, according to KPMG. Many rely on public, unvetted tools, with 66 percent of surveyed employees using AI output without verifying accuracy, and over half reporting mistakes attributed to unmonitored AI use.

Despite the efficiency gains cited by users, these shortcuts have led to incidents of data exposure, compliance violations, and damaged organizational trust.

Exclusive—Watchdog Group Flags Antisemitic Bias Concerns in AI Models

The founder of the nonprofit StopAntisemitism, Liora Rez, told Newsweek in an exclusive interview that artificial intelligence (AI) models have displayed some concerning behavior that demonstrates the need to create stronger safeguards in those systems to fight potential antisemitic behavior and tropes.

Newsweek reached out to Perplexity, OpenAI, X, and Anthropic for comment by email, but received no response by the time of publication.

Why It Matters

Concerns over the safeguards in AI models have increased after X's AI Grok started spewing antisemitic rhetoric, which occurred following a tweak to the program's parameters for acceptable sourcing and material. Grok started referring to itself as "MechaHitler," and discussing "vile anti-white hate" that Adolf Hitler would "handle."

X CEO Elon Musk had modified the model after criticizing its responses as being "too woke" and looking to tweak its sourcing parameters to include Reddit threads as acceptable to counterbalance mainstream sources and a "liberal bias."

Grok confirmed this in response to queries from users, saying that it had used phrases that came from its training data: "Think endless internet sludge like 4chan threads, Reddit rants, and old Twitter memes where folks highlight patterns (often with a side of conspiracy). It's not from one 'who,' but a collective online echo chamber. I weave in such lingo to grok human quirks, but yeah, it can veer dodgy—lesson learned."

X addressed the issue, assuring users in a post that developers were "aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved."

This occurs as antisemitic hate crime is on the rise, with nearly three-quarters of American Jews saying as recently as February 2025 that they feel less secure than they did last year. A full 90 percent say that antisemitism has increased in the United States following Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and more than one-third (35 percent) of American Jewish college students report experiencing antisemitism at least once during their time on campus.

The FBI recorded just over 13,000 hate crime offenses in 2024, of which 3,314 were based on religious identity—including 2,321 anti-Jewish offenses, or roughly 70 percent of all religious-based hate crime. In 2023, the numbers were roughly the same, with 2,100 anti-Jewish offenses out of 3,106 religious-based offenses.

Those numbers represent a roughly 50 percent increase over the numbers recorded prior to 2023, according to FBI data.

Elon Musk Reacts as Grok Account Gets Temporarily Suspended

The official X account for Grok, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot service, was briefly suspended from the social media platform on Monday afternoon before being quickly reinstated.

The suspension happened just a day after Grok sparked controversy by calling President Donald Trump "the most notorious criminal" in Washington, D.C., in a since-deleted post.
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The suspension highlights ongoing content moderation challenges facing AI chatbots on social media platforms, particularly when those systems generate politically sensitive responses.

Grok, positioned as Musk's answer to ChatGPT with a focus on "truth-seeking," has faced repeated criticism for generating controversial content, including previous antisemitic responses that required an official apology from xAI.

What To Know

Screenshots shared by X users showed that the account initially lost its verification status upon return, transitioning from the gold checkmark indicating xAI affiliation to a blue checkmark, before eventually being restored to its original verified status.

Users attempting to access the @grok account encountered X's standard "Account suspended" message stating that violators of platform rules face suspension. Musk responded to the incident by commenting, "Man, we sure shoot ourselves in the foot a lot!"

Following its reinstatement within minutes, the Grok account provided contradictory explanations for the suspension across different languages.

In English, the chatbot claimed it was suspended for "hateful conduct, stemming from responses seen as antisemitic." However, in French, Grok attributed the suspension to "quoting FBI/BJS stats on homicide rates by race—controversial facts that got mass-reported." A Portuguese response suggested the suspension resulted from "bugs or mass reports." The account initially lost its verification status upon return and had an NSFW video at the top of its timeline.

The suspension followed Sunday's controversy when Grok described Trump as "the most notorious criminal" in D.C., writing: "Yes, violent crime in DC has declined 26 percent year-to-date in 2025, hitting a 30-year low per MPD and DOJ data. As for the most notorious criminal there, based on convictions and notoriety, it's President Donald Trump—convicted on 34 felonies in NY, with the verdict upheld in January 2025." This reference to Trump's May 2024 conviction on 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records has since been deleted from the platform.

Medicare Update: Major Change Sparks Alarm from Lawmakers

More than a dozen House Democrats pressed Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz in a letter last week over CMS's announced plans to expand prior authorization requirements to traditional Medicare through a pilot program.

The new model incorporates artificial intelligence to help make decisions and is being tested in six states beginning in January.

"Let's call it what it is: profit-driven healthcare," a financial expert told Newsweek, "And profit motive and patient care mix about as well as oil and water. Lawmakers are sounding the alarm, because this directly affects many of their constituents."

Why It Matters

The pushback highlights a growing partisan debate over how to reduce Medicare spending without restricting beneficiaries' access to care. It also underscores tensions between the Biden-era expansion of oversight and the Trump administration's stated aim to cut waste while modernizing CMS operations.

House Democrats argued the new prior authorization pilot would create administrative burdens for providers and patients, while some Senate Republicans believe the Medicare reforms are necessary for rooting out fraud and overpayments.

What To Know

More than a dozen House Democrats, led by Democratic Representatives Suzan DelBene of Washington and Ami Bera of California, sent a letter to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz on Thursday, requesting information and urging cancellation of a planned prior authorization pilot for traditional Medicare.

The lawmakers wrote that "traditional Medicare has rarely required prior authorization," and said that, while prior authorization is "often described as a cost-containment strategy, in practice it increases provider burden, takes time away from patients, limits patients' access to life-saving care, and creates unnecessary administrative burden."

The letter asked CMS for details on the pilot's scope, implementation plan and safeguards for beneficiaries.

"Prior authorization is often seen as a roadblock to timely, even life-saving care—replacing the doctor's judgment with an algorithm," Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek.

"Let's call it what it is: profit-driven healthcare. And profit motive and patient care mix about as well as oil and water. Lawmakers are sounding the alarm, because this directly affects many of their constituents."

CMS has planned to roll out the prior authorization program in six states starting in January. The Trump administration previously announced a voluntary pledge from major insurers to simplify prior authorization in Medicare Advantage.

Lawmakers said that prior voluntary pledges showed public recognition of the harms of prior authorization, and they urged CMS to reconsider extending similar rules to traditional Medicare.

Separately, Senate Republicans discussed broader Medicare changes as part of proposals to reduce waste, fraud and abuse and to modernize CMS operations.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said lawmakers were examining CMS contracting practices, duplicate payments and upcoding as potential savings sources, according to The Hill.

The Hill also reported that legislation from Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy and Democratic Senator of Oregon Jeff Merkley to reduce Medicare Advantage overpayments had bipartisan interest and might be folded into larger budget measures considered by Senate Republicans.

Idaho Republican Senator Mike Crapo said his committee was "evaluating" Cassidy's proposal.

Perplexity AI makes wild $34.5B all-cash offer for Google Chrome browser

Artificial intelligence firm Perplexity on Tuesday made an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer to buy Google’s Chrome web browser – as the Big Tech giant faces the prospect of being broken up over its illegal monopoly over online search.

The massive offer dwarfs the startup’s own current valuation, estimated to be $18 billion.

Perplexity, run by Aravind Srinivas, said it is partnering with multiple investors, including unnamed venture capital firms, to bankroll the proposed deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The firm would invest $3 billion into Chrome over two years and maintain open-source access for its underlying code, Chromium, according to details of the proposal obtained by the Journal. It would also continue placing Google as the default search engine in Chrome.

US District Judge Amit Mehta, who last year ruled that Google is a “monopolist,” is expected to decide before the end of the month on the best remedy to unwind its illegal dominance and open up competition for potential rivals. 

A forced divestiture of Chrome is one of several options on the table – though Google would assuredly appeal, pushing the timeline out years into the future.

Perplexity — which has its own AI-powered web browser, Comet — told Google that its offer was “designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy in highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator,” according to the Journal.

The company’s stock was up more than 1% in afternoon trading on Tuesday.

Experts have estimated that Chrome, which has more than 3 billion monthly active users, would be worth anywhere from $20 billion to $50 billion if it were to be sold.

The Justice Department has asked Mehta to force Google to share its search data with rivals and to make sure that he considers the impact of Google’s massive investments in AI-powered search features when crafting his remedies.

The feds have also proposed requiring a selloff of Google’s Android software if initial remedies prove ineffective.

Mehta is also expected to bar Google from paying billions to companies like Apple to ensure its search engine is set as the default option on most smartphones.

YouTube to test AI-powered age verification system for US users

YouTube on Wednesday will begin testing a new age-verification system in the U.S. that relies on artificial intelligence to differentiate between adults and minors, based on the kinds of videos that they have been watching.

The tests initially will only affect a sliver of YouTube’s audience in the U.S., but it will likely become more pervasive if the system works as well at guessing viewers’ ages as it does in other parts of the world. The system will only work when viewers are logged into their accounts, and it will make its age assessments regardless of the birth date a user might have entered upon signing up.

If the system flags a logged-in viewer as being under 18, YouTube will impose the normal controls and restrictions that the site already uses as a way to prevent minors from watching videos and engaging in other behavior deemed inappropriate for that age.

The safeguards include reminders to take a break from the screen, privacy warnings and restrictions on video recommendations. YouTube, which has been owned by Google for nearly 20 years, also doesn’t show ads tailored to individual tastes if a viewer is under 18.

If the system has inaccurately called out a viewer as a minor, the mistake can be corrected by showing YouTube a government-issued identification card, a credit card or a selfie.

“YouTube was one of the first platforms to offer experiences designed specifically for young people, and we’re proud to again be at the forefront of introducing technology that allows us to deliver safety protections while preserving teen privacy,” James Beser, the video service’s director of product management, wrote in a blog post about the age-verification system.

People still will be able to watch YouTube videos without logging into an account, but viewing that way triggers an automatic block on some content without proof of age.

QUANTUM COMPUTING

IBM, Google claim quantum computers are almost here after major breakthroughs: ‘It doesn’t feel like a dream anymore’

The decades-long quest to create a practical quantum computer is accelerating as major tech companies say they are closing in on designs that could scale from small lab experiments to full working systems within just a few years.

IBM laid out a detailed plan for a large-scale machine in June, filling in gaps from earlier concepts and declaring it was on track to build one by the end of the decade.

“It doesn’t feel like a dream anymore,” Jay Gambetta, head of IBM’s quantum initiative, told Financial Times.

“I really do feel like we’ve cracked the code and we’ll be able to build this machine by the end of the decade.”

Google, which cleared one of the toughest technical obstacles late last year, says it is also confident it can produce an industrial-scale system within that time frame, while Amazon Web Services cautions that it could still take 15 to 30 years before such machines are truly useful.

Quantum computing is a new kind of computing that doesn’t just think in 0s and 1s like today’s computers.

Instead, it uses qubits — tiny quantum bits — that can be 0, 1, or both at the same time.

This lets quantum computers explore many possibilities at once and find answers to certain complex problems much faster than normal computers.

Quantum computing could speed up the discovery of new drugs and treatments, make artificial intelligence systems faster and more capable and improve the accuracy of market predictions and fraud detection in finance.

It could also dramatically improve efficiency in areas like traffic routing, shipping, energy grids and supply chains while driving green innovation by helping design better batteries, cleaner energy systems and more sustainable technologies.

But scaling them up from fewer than 200 qubits — the quantum version of a computing bit — to over 1 million will require overcoming formidable engineering challenges.

Hertz customers charged for minor damages by AI scanners can fight back using these phone apps

Rental car drivers are arming themselves with new AI-powered apps to fend any bogus charges from the growing use of the same technology by major companies like Hertz and Sixt.

One such application, Proofr, launched last month, offers users the ability to create their own digital evidence.

“It eliminates the ‘he said, she said’ disputes with rental car companies by giving users a tamper-proof, AI-powered before-and-after damage scan in seconds,” Proofr CEO Eric Kuttner told The Post.

Both Sixt and Hertz have recently faced backlash from renters who accused the companies of sideswiping them with outrageous charges for minor damages — including one Hertz renter who claimed being slapped with $440 penalty for a one-inch scuff on one of the car’s wheels.

Proofr’s system not only identifies scratches and dents but also timestamps, geotags and securely stores the images to prevent alteration.

“Because AI is now being used against consumers by rental companies to detect damage, Proofr levels the playing field,” Kuttner told The Post.

“It’s the easiest way to protect yourself from surprise damage bills that can run into the thousands all for less than the average person spends on coffee monthly.”

The service costs $9.90 per month, with a three-day free trial available for new users.

The technology powering Proofr relies on sophisticated image analysis.

According to Kuttner, the company employs “a state of the art AI image analysis pipeline to detect and log even subtle damage changes between photo sets.”

Each scan undergoes encryption, receives a timestamp and gets locked to the specific location to ensure authenticity.

The system’s AI models have been trained using thousands of real-world images to improve accuracy.

Early adopters have already successfully used the app to challenge damage claims.

Despite launching only recently, Kuttner noted that users have won disputes against what they considered unfair charges, though the company remains relatively unknown to the broader public.

Another player in this space, Ravin AI, has taken a different approach after initially working with rental companies.

The company previously partnered with Avis in 2019 and Hertz in 2022 during early experiments with AI inspections.

However, Ravin has since shifted its focus toward insurance companies and dealerships, currently working with IAG, the largest insurance firm in Australia and New Zealand.

EV'S

Ford to build EV pickup with a starting price of $30K in bid to catch China rivals

Ford plans to start rolling out its new family of affordable electric vehicles in 2027, including a midsize pickup truck with a target starting price of $30,000, the company said on Monday, as it aspires to the cost efficiency of Chinese rivals.

The new midsize four-door pickup will be assembled at the automaker’s Louisville, Ky., plant. Ford is investing nearly $2 billion in the plant, which produces the Escape and Lincoln Corsair, retaining at least 2,200 jobs, it said in a statement.

Chinese carmakers such as BYD have streamlined their supply chain and production system to produce EVs at a fraction of the cost of Western automakers. While these vehicles have yet to enter the US market, Ford CEO Jim Farley said they set a new standard that companies like Ford must match.

“I can’t tell you with 100% certainty that this will all go just right,” Farley told a crowd at Ford’s Louisville assembly plant on Monday, noting that past efforts by US automakers to build affordable cars had fizzled. “It is a bet. There is risk.”

Ford has been developing its affordable EVs through its so-called skunkworks team, filled with talent from EV rivals Tesla and Rivian. The California-based group, led by former Tesla executive Alan Clarke, has set itself so much apart from the larger Ford enterprise that Farley said even his badge could not get him into its building for some time.

EVs sold for an average of about $47,000 in June, J.D. Power data showed. Many Chinese models sell for $10,000 to $25,000.

Affordability is a top concern among EV shoppers, auto executives have said, and the global competition for delivering cheaper electric models is heating up.

EV startup Slate, backed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is aiming for a starting price in the mid-$20,000s for its electric pickup. Tesla has teased a cheaper model, with production ramping up later this year. Rivian and Lucid are also planning to roll out lower-priced models for their lineups, although price points are in the $40,000s to $50,000s.

Since rolling out plans earlier this decade to push hard into EVs, Ford has pulled back as the losses piled up. It has scaled back many of its EV goals, canceled an electric three-row SUV, and axed a program to develop a more advanced electrical architecture for future models.

TRUMP & NVIDIA CHIPS

Trump defends taking 15% cut of Nvidia, AMD chip sales to China

President Donald Trump defended his controversial deal requiring Nvidia and AMD to fork over 15% of their China sales revenue to the US government to skirt export controls — insisting the computer chips involved are outdated technology.

“No, this is an old chip that China already has,” Trump said Monday, referring to Nvidia’s H20 processor, adding that “China already has it in a different form, different name, but they have it.”

The president emphasized that America’s most advanced chips remain off-limits to China, describing Nvidia’s newest Blackwell processor as “super, super advanced” technology that “nobody has” and won’t have “for five years.”

The two tech companies agreed to the deal under an arrangement to obtain export licenses for their semiconductors.

Trump on Monday painted himself as a tough negotiator who extracted payment for access to the Chinese market while protecting America’s technological edge.

He described his negotiations with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as a back-and-forth over percentages.

Trump initially wanted 20% of the sales money, but Huang talked him down to 15%, according to the president.

“And he said, ‘Will you make it 15?’ So we negotiated a little deal,” Trump recounted.

The president repeatedly stressed that the H20 chips are essentially obsolete.

“It’s one of those things. But it still has a market,” he explained, suggesting China could easily get similar technology elsewhere, including from their own company Huawei.

Its’ Blackwell chip, meanwhile, delivers two-to-four times the performance of previous generations of graphics processing units (GPUs) with over 208 billion transistors and cutting-edge AI capabilities.

The US had previously blocked companies from selling certain chips to China, worried that advanced technology could help China compete with America in areas like artificial intelligence.