News
- Sensitive files held by US courts are being targeted
- The US Judiciary is strengthening its IT infrastructure following incidents
- The DOJ, DHS, and others, were called to help
The US Judiciary system has confirmed suffering a cyberattack, and says it is now working on reinforcing its systems to prevent further incursions.
In a press release published on the US Courts website, the body said said it recently experienced, “escalated cyberattacks of a sophisticated and persistent nature.”
Without detailing the attacks, or the perpetrators, the announcement said that the crooks were targeting its case management system, targeting sensitive files hosted there.
Courts in the crosshairs“The vast majority of documents filed with the Judiciary’s electronic case management system are not confidential and indeed are readily available to the public, which is fundamental to an open and transparent judicial system.
However, some filings contain confidential or proprietary information that are sealed from public view,” the announcement reads.
“These sensitive documents can be targets of interest to a range of threat actors. To better protect them, courts have been implementing more rigorous procedures to restrict access to sensitive documents under carefully controlled and monitored circumstances.”
The announcement does not go into detail about the reinforcement efforts. It says that the Administrative Office of the United States Courts is working with Congress, the Department of Justice (DoJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and other agencies.
US courts, both local and federal, have often been the targets of different cybercriminals.
Back in 2020, a cyberattack against the US federal court system ended up being far more damaging than initially thought, and in 2024, unnamed hackers attacked court systems across the US state of Washington, forcing the judicial organization to shut down parts of its infrastructure to prevent further damage.
In summer 2024, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, the largest in the United States, suffered a ransomware attack which forced it to close down its entire operation for a day.
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The touted benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) are vast. It’s promised to boost efficiency, create happier workers and drive innovation. Sounds great – but at what point do you see value for money? This is an issue that many businesses are continuing to grapple with, and the data paints a sobering picture.
Research reveals a mere 36% of organizations have successfully scaled their GenAI solutions, with just 13% achieving a significant, enterprise-level impact. The gap between pilot and profit is becoming a chasm, with Gartner predicting 30% of GenAI projects will be abandoned after the proof-of-concept stage this year alone.
So why the disconnect? The problem isn't a failure of the technology itself, but of foresight. In the race for AI dominance, many leaders are focused on the promise of the technology itself and not calculating the true cost of the journey it will take to extract its value.
They often underestimate the long-term financial commitment, the necessary infrastructure overhaul and the critical change management needed to turn a promising algorithm into a pillar of the business. To move from AI ambition to AI achievement, it’s time for leaders to confront these hidden economics head-on, starting with the risks you can't yet see.
Planning for tomorrow’s AIUK businesses are spending an average of £321,000 on AI, but 44% report seeing only minor gains. This disconnect between investment and impact is often rooted in a failure to plan for the hidden, long-term risks that emerge after deployment.
These risks fall into two main categories: the shifting landscape of future regulation and the unforeseen realities of implementation costs. Without a clear global rulebook, businesses operate in a regulatory fog. And having a patchwork of national policies means a system deemed compliant today could be rendered a liability by new rules tomorrow, creating a ticking economic clock on the investment.
This lack of foresight also applies to tangible costs, where on-premise expenses escalate with energy-intensive hardware, and cloud deployments trigger punishing "bill shock" from data charges not factored into initial plans.
A comprehensive solution to these uncertainties is to build with a flexible mindset from day one. A viable strategy requires designing systems that can be easily modified and implementing clear, strong policies for how data is managed. However, a flexible system is only as good as the team that manages it.
This is where addressing the skills gap becomes a necessity. Investing in upskilling and cultivating a culture of continuous learning is not just another cost; it is the core capability that allows an organization to adapt to whatever challenges – technical or legal – the future holds.
This means looking beyond a small pool of perfect-fit AI experts and instead hiring for adaptability, and seeking out individuals with strong foundational skills and capacity to constantly learn new technologies.
The sustainable AI equationAs AI's computational needs intensify, sustainability has shifted from a corporate ideal to a core economic imperative. The sheer power of the processors driving modern AI generates immense heat, and data centers are at the epicenter of this challenge.
With cooling already accounting for nearly 40% of a data center's energy consumption, traditional air-cooling methods are proving to be a bottleneck. Capable of capturing only 30% of the heat generated by servers, these legacy systems are not just inefficient, but a direct threat to the scalability and financial viability of the high-performance AI applications of tomorrow.
This is where advanced solutions like direct-to-chip and immersion liquid cooling become necessary. By using fluids to dissipate heat with far greater efficiency, these technologies address the problem at its source. Immersion cooling, for example, can capture 100% of the heat produced by servers, a capability that translates directly into lower carbon emissions and significant operational cost savings.
In addition, liquid cooling's superior thermal management allows data centers to handle much higher server densities, maximizing the value of existing infrastructure and reducing the need for costly physical expansions. This is a crucial advantage for scaling AI efficiently and responsibly. It transforms sustainability from a cost center into a powerful competitive edge.
Building the foundation for lasting AI valueThe path forward is about approaching AI’s potential with a new strategic maturity. Success in this next chapter means looking at AI as a business transformation build on a sound economic foundation, where the hidden costs of regulation, implementation and sustainability are interconnected pillars.
The true return on investment will not be found in simple cost savings, but in the ability to make smarter decisions faster, adapt to a changing market and build a lasting edge over the competition. No matter what industry you are in, it’s time to stop asking what the tool can do, and start asking if their organization is truly ready to wield its power.
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- Meta's CTO was asked what we can expect from Meta Connect 2025
- In response, he teased “big wearables announcements”
- He didn't mention VR hardware, however
Meta Connect 2025 is fast approaching – it’s a little over a month away on September 17 – but Meta’s CTO is already hinting at what we’ll see at the event, and perhaps just as importantly, he hints at what we won’t see this time by not mentioning it.
Andrew Bosworth hosts frequent AMAs on Instagram (via UploadVR) where he provides sometimes surprisingly open responses to questions posed by the public, with his latest comments relating to one AMA about what to expect from Connect 2025.
After asking himself what he can hint at, Bosworth reveals the event will include “big wearables announcements,” “AI, especially AI plus wearables,” “AI plus metaverse,” and “metaverse software.”
No new VR hardware? (Image credit: Meta)I’ll dive into those – especially the wearables side – in a moment, but I want to highlight a category Bosworth didn’t name: metaverse hardware, aka VR / MR headsets.
Now it’s worth noting that the lack of a promise of an announcement isn’t the same as explicitly saying there won’t be new VR hardware. But the lack of a new Meta Quest 4, Meta Quest Pro 2, or some other kind of headset was expected – and this AMA from Bosworth adds further fuel to the fire of speculation.
Rumors tease a new headset – or goggles – coming from Meta in the future, but it isn’t due to land until at least next year, based on leaks. Waiting also gives Meta flexibility to better push back against whatever Project Moohan from Samsung and Google has in store as Android XR steps into the ring.
The Quest 3 and Quest 3S are great machines; Meta doesn’t need to rush out their successor.
We can at least get excited for new metaverse software, though it’s unclear what form this will take. New VR games or video streaming services would be ideal (an update to Deadpool VR seems likely), but there’s not too much information to go off based on Bosworth’s comments or wider leaks.
(Image credit: Meta)Glasses galoreOkay, so don’t hold your breath for a Quest 4. But what hardware should we keep our eyes out for?
Wearables are likely to come in three forms based on rumors and Meta’s recent Oakley smart specs launch.
The most likely is a model codenamed Celeste, according to rumors. These smart glasses have long been rumored and are tipped to be AI glasses – very probably Meta Ray-Bans – with a display for the first time. They won’t be full-on AR like the Orion prototype, instead offering something of a half-step between those and what we have currently.
Celeste is said to only be equipped with a single screen, and it won’t boast a wide field of view or offer positional tracking. This means the notifications and information the glasses show you will always appear at a specific distance away, rather than you being able to virtually set them in space so you can move close or further away to it, like you can with a real object.
These glasses may also come packaged with Meta’s first wristband, or some other smartwatch-like wearable. Rather than tracking health metrics, the Meta watch is believed to mostly be focused on giving you control over virtual objects and notifications, but I wouldn’t be shocked if there was an upgraded version you could buy that includes typical health and fitness monitoring. That is, if the base model lacks those features.
Meta's Ray-Bans deserve an Oakley upgrade (Image credit: Oakley / Meta)My final wearables prediction is more of a punt, but it makes sense to me when you consider the age of Meta’s most recent Ray-Bans and the hardware upgrades the new Oakleys received.
That is to say, I think Meta will also launch a refresh of its displayless Ray-Bans with the improved camera and battery that the Oakleys offer – perhaps with some new designs to boot.
Unlike Celeste, there aren’t any rumors of this, and usually there would be if we’re close to launch, but it just seems like a no brainer to give Meta’ ultra popular smart glasses a light refresh so they’re in the best possible place to fend off Android XR specs which are due to start dropping in 2026.
You might also like- One Alien: Earth star has likened his character to a really old iPhone
- Babou Ceesay says Morrow is an "iPhone 1 in a world of iPhone 20s"
- The cyborg is one of many Synthetics that fans will see in the show
It's rare that you hear an actor describe a character they're playing as a really old iPhone, but that's exactly what one Alien: Earth cast member has done ahead of release.
Speaking to me before the sci-fi horror show's arrival, Babou Ceesay, who plays the duplicitous Morrow, referred to his character as "an iPhone 1 in a world of iPhone 20s".
It's not such a bizarre comparison when you learn more about Morrow. Indeed, originally he was 100% human but, without spoiling how or why, he's turned into a cyborg by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, the nefarious multinational whose shadow has loomed large over the Alien franchise since it hatched in 1979.
With Morrow having been given a new lease of life by Weyland-Yutani, Ceesay agreed with me when I suggested that a "blind loyalty" to the megacorp runs through the character's veins – or, whatever passes for veins in individuals who are part-human, part-machine.
However, over the course of the forthcoming Hulu and Disney+ TV Original comes and goes, suggested that Morrow's allegiances will be tested "to the limit", and he also drew parallels between the struggle his character endures as his human and synthetic halves vie for supremacy, and issues around the development of AI in the real world.
Don't be scared, Morrow, but there's a Xenomorph right next to you... (Image credit: FX Networks/Hulu/Disney+)"I love that [observation]," Ceesay added. "What you just said about the blind loyalty... I've been thinking about it more and more. I wish I'd thought of it at the time, but there's a pressure we're all under now. It almost feels like you're, you can never be enough and you have to just keep leveling up.
"I've flippantly said that Morrow is an iPhone 1 in a world of iPhone 20s," Ceesay continued. "You know, Boy Kavalier [ played by Samuel Blenkin] has invented synthetic bodies with human consciousness. That's the next level, right? Morrow's also [an] enhanced [being] but it's like 'Okay, if that's what I am, I have to go even further in terms of my usefulness, to still be relevant, [and] to still have a reason to keep existing.
"I don't know how far we [humanity] are going to go [in the real world]," he added. "If you're not really that connected to AI – I mean, maybe, that's a good thing. We can all go back to living in cabins! But, seriously, are we all going to just keep pushing ourselves to the limit? I think that's something Morrow keeps asking himself in this show."
Alien: Earth launches with a two-episode premiere on August 12 (North and South America) and August 13 (everywhere else). Before it does, read my Alien: Earth review and our dedicated guide on Alien: Earth.
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