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Florida confirms DMV database breached via stolen police account

Florida confirms its DAVID driver database was breached using stolen police credentials; ShinyHunters claims theft of 200,000+ records.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles confirmed a breach of its DAVID driver database, learned of on September 4, 2026, and says the breach was quickly mitigated with none ongoing. Investigators found the attacker used compromised credentials of a single Plant City Police Department employee that were improperly stored on a personal electronic device. The ShinyHunters extortion gang claims it stole more than 200,000 driver records starting September 3 and shared a Jeffrey Epstein record as proof; FLHSMV has not confirmed the count. The agency notified the Florida Attorney General's office and is working with the Florida Digital Service and Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

BleepingComputerupdated · 9h agofirst · 5d agoData breach in the wild 3 sources1

Meta Failed to Catch Hundreds of AI Child Abuse Ads. Some Included Images of Real Kids

Meta's AI ad-detection failed to catch 350+ CSAM video ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, some depicting images of real children.

The Tech Transparency Project found over 250 additional ads containing child sexual abuse material on Meta platforms since August, on top of ~53 previously removed, exceeding 350 total since late last year. Some ads used images of real children, including a European royal family minor and teen influencers, morphed into graphic sexual videos via AI face-swapping. Ads linked to nudification apps from Chinese developers and reached over 29,000 EU accounts plus thousands in the US, UK, Australia, and India.

WIRED · Security · 8d agoAI safety & security

Meta to Pay Up to $18B Over Teen Social Media Use

Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and cap teen Facebook and Instagram use at two hours daily, settling child-safety lawsuits from most US states.

Meta settled claims that it deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to addict children, ending a federal trial as Instagram head Adam Mosseri began testifying and Mark Zuckerberg was expected to testify. Of roughly $16.7 billion for 47 states and territories, $12.7 billion is guaranteed and $5 billion is contingent on Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube adopting similar teen protections. The deal also resolved state privacy claims tied to Cambridge Analytica for an additional $459 million, while New Mexico (a $567 million ruling) and Florida opted out of the settlement.

Security Affairs · 20d agoPolicy & legal

Florida water agency latest to confirm cyber incident as feds warn of nation

A ransomware gang hit Florida's St. Johns River Water Management District as CISA warned of IRGC-linked CyberAv3ngers attacks on exposed Unitronics water-sector PLCs.

The St. Johns River Water Management District, which oversees Florida drinking-water supply planning, confirmed suspicious activity in its IT environment and said containment measures were implemented; a ransomware gang claimed the attack and shared samples of stolen data. Separately, CISA, FBI, NSA, EPA and Israel's INCD warned that IRGC-affiliated CyberAv3ngers are actively compromising Israeli-made Unitronics Vision Series PLCs in the water sector using default credentials since at least November 22. The group, motivated by opposition to Israel-linked products, defaces controller interfaces and could cause deeper cyber-physical effects. Shadowserver found at least 539 Unitronics PLC instances still exposed online, and CNN reported fewer than 10 US water facilities faced recent attacks.

The Record · 9d agoRansomware in the wild 3 sources

“This is the AI men actually use”: Meta ads pushed apps nudifying real teens

TTP found Meta ran ads for AI nudify apps using real photos of minors, including a CSAM ad, drawing scrutiny from US and Australian regulators.

The Tech Transparency Project reported that Meta served ads for AI nudify apps using photos of real teens, which collectively reached over 29,000 people in the EU and 6,800 in the UK, with about 80% of ads shown in the US. A Facebook page posing as representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ran a CSAM ad that Meta only disabled after TTP flagged it. Michigan and Florida attorneys general are investigating, Senator Mark Warner has demanded action, and Australia's eSafety regulator requested information from Meta at a senior level. Meta said flagged ads averaged fewer than 200 impressions with total spend under $5,000.

Ars Technica · AI · 8d agoAI safety & security

ShinyHunters claims Florida DMV breach, puts data on the clock

ShinyHunters claims it breached Florida DMV's DAVID database, stole 200,000+ driver records including SSNs, and set a September 11 extortion deadline.

The ShinyHunters extortion group claims it breached the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' DAVID driver and vehicle database and stole more than 200,000 records. As evidence it published a screenshot of a Jeffrey Epstein record showing address, Social Security number, date of birth, license number and registered vehicles, and set a September 11 deadline before publication. The group says it obtained access through a password-reset weakness, compromised employee accounts, and queried and downloaded driver records and images. The Florida DMV has not confirmed the claim; it follows a separate confirmed IDScan.net breach exposing over 153 million license scans that prompted an FBI investigation.

CSO Online · 7d agoData breach in the wild1

Your AI chats could be used in court

AI chatbot conversations from ChatGPT and Claude are increasingly obtained by prosecutors and litigants, with OpenAI disclosures quadrupling in 2025.

A Washington Post report found chatbot logs cited in 12 court cases over the past two years, and OpenAI disclosed the content of more than 80 user accounts in the second half of 2025, more than four times the figure for the second half of 2024. In The New York Times' copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, a judge ordered the company to preserve chat logs, including ones users had asked to delete, despite GDPR and California privacy commitments. Chatbot conversations lack attorney-client or medical privilege, and OpenAI's policy allows reviewers to refer conversations to law enforcement when there is an imminent, credible risk of harm.

Malwarebytes Labs · 14d agoAI policy

ShinyHunters hackers claim breach of Florida "DAVID" DMV database

ShinyHunters claims it breached Florida's DAVID DMV database via a password-reset flaw, stealing 200,000+ driver records including SSNs.

The ShinyHunters extortion gang added Florida FLHSMV to its leak site, claiming theft of over 200,000 driver records from the DAVID platform since September 3. As proof, the group published a screenshot of Jeffrey Epstein's DMV record showing address, Social Security number, driver's license ID, and registered vehicles. The gang says it compromised DMV employee and FBI agent accounts via a password-reset flaw and iterated through records by ID. Access has reportedly been lost and the flaw is being patched, but ShinyHunters expects to announce breaches of other states' DMV platforms.

BleepingComputer · 8d agoData breach

Necessary or Sufficient? Evaluating LLM Explanations With Behavioural Evidence

New framework tests whether LLM-cited explanation factors are necessary or sufficient, finding weak correlation across Claude, GPT, and Gemini models.

An arXiv paper introduces black-box intervention tests measuring whether factors LLMs cite in their explanations are necessary or sufficient for their outputs in agent oversight workflows. Across eight models from the Claude, GPT, and Gemini families, Spearman correlations between cited rankings and measured influence ranged from 0.349-0.354 (advisor recommendation) to 0.431-0.580 (prompt monitoring). Uncited factors scored above the lowest cited factor in up to 57.6% of advisor responses, showing cited top-three factors do not reliably identify the most influential inputs.

arXiv cs.AI / cs.LG / cs.CL · 12d agoAI safety & security1

Trump may be forced to reveal secret rules feds use for AI safety testing

Protect Democracy sued four federal agencies to force disclosure of the administration's secret framework for frontier AI safety reviews.

Nonprofit Protect Democracy sued four federal agencies, including the Office of the National Cyber Director, OSTP, Treasury and Commerce, seeking disclosure of the secret voluntary framework used for pre-release safety reviews of frontier AI models. The complaint demands the framework text, participant identities and selection criteria by September 30, alleging OpenAI negotiated a private agreement limiting distribution of its cutting-edge models to government-vetted partners. The suit follows the launch of the GOLD EAGLE clearinghouse and the completion of the review framework on August 3, with California Senator Josh Becker supporting the request while the state considers the SB 813 bill for transparent AI safety standards.

Ars Technica · AI · 14d agoAI policy

Ukraine prosecutor general steps down amid scam call center bribery probe

Ukraine's prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko resigned amid a probe into officials who allegedly took bribes to protect fraudulent call centers.

Ukraine's prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko resigned over an anti-corruption probe into officials who allegedly took bribes since mid-2025 to protect fraudulent call centers; he has not been charged. NABU named five suspects, including senior prosecutor Serhii Kropyva, who was remanded with bail of 120 million hryvnias (about $2.7 million) on suspicion of laundering over 89 million hryvnias (roughly $2 million). The scam centers targeted victims in Ukraine and abroad; Ukrainian authorities reported shutting about 340 call centers over the past year, including 94 in a single week during a nationwide crackdown.

The Record · 7d agoPolicy & legal

The County Prosecutors Who Became ICE Informants

Illinois county prosecutors shared defendants' personal data with federal ICE agents without warrants, disclosure, or oversight, WIRED reports.

WIRED reports that county prosecutors in Illinois effectively became informants for federal immigration agents. Defendants' personal data was shared without criminal warrants, public disclosure, or legislative oversight. The story raises privacy and accountability concerns around government handling of personal data.

WIRED · Security · 22d agoPolicy & legal

Jail time for Maine child in 764 marks turning point in federal law enforcement

A 17-year-old from Maine became the first minor federally adjudicated for 764 extremist crimes, including child exploitation, signaling a policy shift on prosecuting juveniles.

The FBI said a Maine teenager is the first child federally charged and adjudicated for crimes tied to the nihilistic violent extremist collective 764, part of The Com network. Charges include conspiracy to sexually exploit a child, distributing CSAM, interstate threats, cyberstalking, and identity theft. The case marks a turning point in federal policy on prosecuting juveniles and continues heightened enforcement: Kyle Spitze was sentenced to 77 years and Alexis Chavez to 40 years in related cases. The FBI is investigating more than 500 subjects connected to 764 and its offshoots nationwide.

CyberScoop · 14d agoPolicy & legal

Verifiable by Construction: Claim-Level Evaluation of Verbatim Citation in Clinical Question Answering

Evaluation of twelve LLMs on 222 clinical questions shows verbatim quotes rarely substantiate claims; claude-opus-5 fully substantiates only 37.1%.

The authors build a standardized harness over four clinical practice guidelines and evaluate twelve LLMs on 222 synthetic clinical questions, measuring citation attachment, verbatim quote production, and claim substantiation. Most models attach verbatim quotes to over 90% of claims from prompting alone, though lightweight models like claude-haiku-4.5 struggle. Quotes frequently fail to substantiate claims: claude-opus-5 quotes 98.0% of claims but fully substantiates only 37.1%, exposing a capability gap for verifiable clinical QA.

arXiv cs.AI / cs.LG / cs.CL · 2d agoAI research

ChatGPT-using lawyer punished for citing fake testimony from made-up witnesses

New Mexico Supreme Court holds lawyer in contempt for filing a ChatGPT-generated brief citing fabricated witness testimony; fined $5,000 and referred to disciplinary board.

The New Mexico Supreme Court held criminal defense lawyer Stephen Aarons in direct contempt for filing a murder-appeal brief containing false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses, including Officer Michelle Amarillo and Officer Sanchez, plus misrepresented legal authority. Aarons admitted feeding a computer-generated trial transcript into ChatGPT, powered by the OpenAI o3 model, and filing the output without verifying factual claims or telling his client. He was fined $5,000, referred to a disciplinary board, and barred from appearing before the court pending proceedings; the court struck all briefs and ordered new counsel for client Oscar Renee Sandoval.

Ars Technica · AIupdated · 5d agofirst · 5d agoAI safety & security 2 sources

ATF confirms cyberattack hit system containing info on its investigation targets

Qilin ransomware group claimed breaching the ATF, exposing data on investigation targets; the agency says a standalone system was hit with no mission impact.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed a cyberattack on a standalone system holding information about targets of ATF investigations, designated a major incident, with no impact on case management, lab, or eForms systems. Qilin, a Russian-speaking affiliate-based ransomware group, claimed responsibility, though ATF declined to confirm involvement or the root cause. Qilin has claimed hundreds of victims across 60+ countries since 2022 and partners with Scattered Spider and Moonstone Sleet.

CyberScoop · 19d agoRansomware in the wild

LinkedIn fights for the right to tell customers when the feds want their data

Microsoft's chief legal officer argues federal subpoenas for LinkedIn user data should carry narrower scope and that secrecy orders must become the exception.

Microsoft chief legal officer Jon Palmer said federal courts and Congress must curb overly broad US government subpoenas for LinkedIn user data that arrive with secrecy orders preventing customer notification. The company is asking courts to enforce meaningful limits on demand scope and secrecy, invoking Fourth and First Amendment arguments. Palmer cited House legislation passed August 31 to rein in secret surveillance, while LinkedIn simultaneously faces user privacy lawsuits, one dismissed with leave to amend by Judge Vince Chhabria.

CSO Online · 7h agoPolicy & legal

Trump Authorizes Private Sector Participation in Offensive Cyber Operations

The White House authorized private sector participation in government-directed offensive cyber operations against transnational groups, drawing escalation and attribution warnings.

The Trump administration has authorized private sector participation in US government-directed offensive cyber operations targeting transnational groups. The policy shift has prompted warnings from observers about escalation risks and attribution challenges when non-government actors conduct offensive operations. This represents a notable change in how US offensive cyber capability can be employed.

Infosecurity Magazine · Aug 13, 2026Policy & legal

DOJ firearms agency says hackers breached system containing investigation targets

ATF confirmed a cyberattack on a standalone system containing investigation target data, calling it a major incident; Qilin listed ATF on its leak site.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) confirmed a cyberattack on a standalone computer system containing information about targets of ATF investigations, with no connection to case management, laboratory, or eForms systems. The agency designated the breach a major incident and immediately terminated connections, initiating incident response and forensics. The Qilin ransomware gang added ATF to its leak site without providing stolen data samples. Qilin was the second most active ransomware gang in July 2026 with 127 reported attacks, and has previously hit Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Asahi, and Palau's government.

The Record · 20d agoRansomware in the wild

The Republican Nominee for New York Governor Made a Creepy, AI-Generated Video of Mamdani and Hochul

NY gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman posted an unlabeled AI-generated video of Mamdani and Hochul, prompting a Board of Elections complaint.

Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for New York governor, posted an AI-generated video depicting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul gardening and cycling together. The New York State Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Board of Elections alleging the video violates state election law requiring disclosure of materially deceptive AI-generated political media. Blakeman argues the video is protected satire or parody under the law's exceptions.

404 Media · 14d agoAI policy

Ministry of Justice apologizes after court staff accessed Southport victims' files

UK Ministry of Justice apologized after court staff accessed Southport attack victims' files without authorization, exposing sensitive personal data with no evidence of third-party sharing.

The UK Ministry of Justice apologized after court staff accessed case files related to victims and survivors of the 2024 Southport murders without authorization, including sensitive personal data assessed as high risk for some individuals. There is no evidence the information was shared with third parties. HM Courts and Tribunals Service and HM Prison and Probation Service are investigating, and the Information Commissioner's Office has been informed. The incident follows similar unauthorized record access at North West Ambulance Service and Aintree University Hospital.

The Register · Security · 16h agoData breach

Emergency Department Revisit Quality Review Screening: Exploring Human Decision-Making and Artificial Intelligence Support

A retrospective study found GPT-4 over-flagged emergency department revisit cases while an LLM knowledge-graph screener achieved 83-100% positive predictive value.

In an exploratory retrospective study of 99 emergency department diagnosis pairs from a multihospital health system, clinicians and GPT-4 independently judged whether revisit pairs warranted further assessment. GPT-4 responses correlated poorly with clinicians, flagging 94% of pairs for follow-up, 4.4-13.3 times more than clinicians, though prompt engineering was minimal. An algorithm leveraging an LLM-populated knowledge graph (KGA) achieved 83-100% positive predictive value against at least one clinician rater, suggesting LLM-based screening could broaden revisit quality review without substantially increasing reviewer workload.

arXiv cs.AI / cs.LG / cs.CL · 7d agoAI research1

Before You Poll with LLMs: A Deliberative Diagnostic Framework

Deliberative diagnostic shows all five tested frontier LLMs misrepresent human belief shifts after arguments, with GPT-5.1 reversing on outgroup questions.

The Deliberative Polling Diagnostic Framework compares human and LLM persona belief shifts after identical informational interventions, using data from America in One Room (526 personas, 72 questions). All five frontier models tested failed uniquely: GPT-5.1 exhibited partisan reversal (80% on outgroup vs 26% on policy questions), Gemini 2.0 Flash, Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Llama 3.3 70B overshot at 5-7x human magnitude, and DeepSeek V3 showed near-zero change (rigidity). The authors term the underlying signature 'self-sycophancy', conformity to the model's internal persona stereotype rather than reasoning from provided information.

arXiv cs.AI / cs.LG / cs.CL · 2d agoAI research

ATF responds to 'major' cybersecurity incident after ransomware gang's claims

The ATF is responding to a major cybersecurity incident claimed by a ransomware gang, with the US Justice Department investigating the breach.

The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) acknowledged a 'major' cybersecurity incident after a ransomware gang claimed responsibility for an attack. The US Justice Department is investigating the breach. Available reporting provides limited technical detail, and the scope of data theft and operational impact remains unclear.

The Register · Security · 20d agoRansomware

Risky Bulletin: Ukraine's top prosecutor resigns amid scam call center scandal

Ukraine's top prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko resigned after NABU arrested a deputy for taking bribes protecting scam call centers running fake investment platforms.

Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau NABU arrested Serhiy Kropyva, Deputy Head of International Cooperation at the Prosecutor General's Office, alleging officials took monthly protection fees from a network of 100-500 scam call centers luring victims into fake investment platforms, with bribes reportedly growing from $700,000 to $3.5 million per month. Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko resigned on Monday, calling it a political decision, while Kropyva was fired with bail set at 120 million hryvnias ($2.7 million) and over 100 call centers shut down in the past month. The newsletter also briefly covers a cyberattack crippling more than 80 Luxembourg medical practices via payment vendor BMS Engineering, ShinyHunters' claimed theft of 200,000 Florida DMV driver records, a cyberattack on the American Meteor Society, and school closures in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Risky Business News · 7d agoPhishing & fraud

U.S. Offers $10 Million Reward for Iranian IRGC Cyber Chief Linked to Critical Infrastructure Attacks

The U.S. State Department offered up to $10 million for information on Amir Yaryab, an IRGC cyber chief linked to critical infrastructure attacks.

The U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice program offers up to $10 million for information identifying or locating Amir Yaryab, who allegedly oversees the Cyber Operations Command of Iran's IRGC Cyber-Electronic Command (IRGC-CEC). Officials tie him to units called Shahid Hemmat and Shahid Shushtari conducting cyber and information campaigns against defense, telecommunications, energy, and finance sectors across the US, Europe, and the Middle East, and to groups including CyberAv3ngers and Dadeh Afzar Arman. CyberAv3ngers compromised at least 75 Unitronics Vision Series PLCs, including 34 in US water and wastewater facilities, between November 2023 and January 2024.

Cyber Security News · 8d agoPolicy & legal

17th August – Threat Intelligence Report

Colombia's Ministry of Justice suffered a ransomware attack disrupting drug-monitoring and legal public services, per Check Point's 17 August 2026 threat intelligence report.

Check Point Research's weekly threat intelligence bulletin for 17 August 2026 leads with a ransomware attack on Colombia's Ministry of Justice. The attack affected part of the ministry's technology infrastructure and disrupted public services related to illicit-drug monitoring and legal processes. Officials confirmed that some files were impacted; the bulletin also aggregates other cyber research and attack discoveries from the week.

Check Point Research · Aug 17, 2026Ransomware

Supreme Court denies Trump request to allow USPS mail ballot changes

Supreme Court denied the Trump administration's emergency request to implement USPS mail ballot changes before the 2026 midterms, calling it arbitrary and capricious.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected 7-2 the Trump administration's petition to change how the U.S. Postal Service handles mail-in ballots for the 2026 midterm elections. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote the administration was unlikely to succeed, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh cited unreasonably short timelines for state election officials. The blocked executive order would have required USPS citizenship verification, barcode tracking of ballot envelopes, and DHS-compiled "State Citizenship Lists"; a whistleblower alleged a rushed effort to install three restrictive IT verification systems. Justices Alito and Thomas dissented, arguing states and organizations lacked standing.

CyberScoop · 2d agoPolicy & legal

Bad Likert Judge: A Novel Multi-Turn Technique to Jailbreak LLMs by Misusing Their Evaluation Capability

Unit 42 details the Bad Likert Judge multi-turn jailbreak that abuses LLMs' evaluation capability, raising attack success rates over 60% across six frontier models.

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 describes the Bad Likert Judge technique, a multi-turn jailbreak that asks a target LLM to act as a Likert-scale judge scoring the harmfulness of example responses. The highest-rated example in each scale can carry harmful content, bypassing the model's internal guardrails. Testing across six state-of-the-art text-generation LLMs showed an average attack success rate increase of more than 60% versus plain attack prompts, with tested models anonymized. The technique targets edge cases rather than typical use, and the article positions the work as guidance for defenders on potential jailbreak risks.

Palo Alto Unit 42 · Aug 17, 2026AI safety & security

Is Cyber missing the Marque?

Cisco Talos analyzes the White House memorandum on private-sector participation in government-authorized offensive cyber operations.

A new White House memorandum addresses private sector participation in government-authorized offensive cyber operations. Cisco Talos's newsletter, introduced by new author Mick Baccio, explores the operational and security implications of this policy for the cybersecurity industry.

Cisco Talos · 27d agoPolicy & legal

ATF declares ‘major incident’ as ransomware gang claims hack

The ATF declared a major cybersecurity incident and notified Congress after a ransomware gang claimed responsibility for hacking the federal agency.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) formally declared a major incident involving its cybersecurity and notified Congress, according to the agency. A ransomware gang has publicly claimed responsibility for the attack. ATF is the latest in a series of US federal agencies in recent years to report a major cyber incident, though the gang's identity and the scope of data affected were not specified in initial reporting.

TechCrunch · Security · 20d agoRansomware

Trump Targets Foreign Technology in New U.S. Power Grid Security Order

Trump's Executive Order 14420 declares a national emergency to restrict foreign-made bulk-power grid equipment over cyber, sabotage and supply-chain risks.

Executive Order 14420, signed August 26, declares a national emergency regarding the foreign supply of bulk-power system electric equipment to the United States. It empowers the Energy Secretary to restrict transactions with designated Covered Foreign Entities involving equipment, software, firmware, digital services, maintenance services, and remote-access capabilities. Covered equipment includes transformers, generators, inverters, RTUs, PLCs, intelligent electronic devices, and protective relays, with transmission rated 69 kV or higher in scope while local distribution is excluded. Already-installed foreign equipment may be subject to identification, isolation, monitoring, or replacement requirements, with phased compliance and pre-qualified vendor exemptions permitted.

Security Affairs · 19d agoPolicy & legal