Millions of Americans' personal data at risk due to DOGE

Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) uploaded Social Security records to a vulnerable cloud server, putting millions of Americans’ personal information at risk of compromise. The Social Security Administration’s chief data officer, Charles Borges, said other senior agency officials approved the decision in June to upload a «live copy of the nation’s Social Security information to a cloud environment that bypasses» oversight, despite Borges expressing concerns.

The database, known as the Digital Identification System, contains more than 450 million records with all the data submitted as part of a social security application, including the applicant’s name, place of birth, citizenship, and the social security numbers of their family members, as well as other sensitive personal and financial information.

Borges said that members of DOGE, a team of former employees of Elon Musk, copied the database to the agency’s cloud server hosted on Amazon, «which apparently lacks independent security controls» such as controls on who accesses the data and how it is used. The lack of safeguards violated the agency’s internal security controls and federal privacy laws

The complaint states that any compromise or unauthorized access to the database would have a «catastrophic impact» on the U.S. social security program. In the worst-case scenario, all 450 million Americans would have to have their Social Security numbers reissued. Although a federal court restraining order in March initially blocked DOGE staff from accessing the national database of Social Security records, the Supreme Court overturned the order on June 6, clearing the way for DOGE to access the database.

Source: TechCrunch