A US government employee with access to big agencies like the Treasury and Homeland Security accidentally posted a private xAI API key on GitHub.
This key is basically a digital pass for Elon Musk's chatbot models, so its leak is a big deal for data security.
The incident has sparked fresh worries about how well government systems are protecting people's private info.
Key was active for some time, meaning tools were at risk
Cybersecurity expert Philippe Caturegli spotted the leak and quickly alerted the employee, Marko Elez.
The key was taken down from GitHub right away, but it stayed active for some time, meaning sensitive xAI tools were still at risk.
Caturegli said this highlights just how urgently better security practices are needed in government tech.