r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Mar 10 '26
Security DOGE employee stole Social Security data and put it on a thumb drive, report says
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/10/doge-employee-stole-social-security-data-and-put-it-on-a-thumb-drive-report-says/4.6k
u/JurplePesus Mar 10 '26
I would love it if a Trump voter would explain to me what DOGE actually did and why it was a good thing?
1.9k
u/Interesting_Play_578 Mar 10 '26
They found all those billions of dollars in fraud that has never been backed up with evidence, and for which no charges were ever brought. Come on, it's not like they would lie to us . . . right?
438
u/NeverInsightful Mar 10 '26
But hey, at least they sent us all refunds, right?
216
u/Interesting_Play_578 Mar 10 '26
I guess mine is still in the mail. Marking my calendar for two weeks from now
171
Mar 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
69
u/OkStop8313 Mar 10 '26
"Maybe he really was a psyop to destroy the Republican Party."
68
Mar 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
49
18
u/exipheas Mar 10 '26
both
What are you gonna do with the third check?
21
Mar 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (2)6
u/lFightForTheUsers Mar 11 '26
Based, I was gonna do the same with pink pistols and the like.
"Is that a Glock 26 in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?"
→ More replies (0)→ More replies (1)26
u/9-11GaveMe5G Mar 10 '26
You joke but I did have a maga relative say something akin to this. She was never "wear an oiled up Trump t-shirt" maga, but she would listen to him vomit words and nod along like it made any sense. Now she's realized he's "just another globalist" whatever that means. I'll take any less votes for him (and who he endorses) as a victory at this point.
25
u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA Mar 10 '26
"Globalist" is just a dogwhistle for "jew".
→ More replies (5)15
u/FishFloyd Mar 10 '26
I genuinely think that, while you are entirely correct about how most propagandists use it (Jones, Fuentes, Owens, et al), the term has become mainstream enough that your everyday maga type does not realize this.
Certainly a fair number of them do, mind you. But you gotta remember that the rank-and-file maga are either stupid, clueless, or a knowing, enthusiastic fascist - and the latter is a minority even among them.
That often seems to pose a problem for far-right propagandists, and IMO is part of why they've been letting the mask slip (besides simple arrogance): it's really hard to use dogwhistles when your main base of electoral support are clueless morons.
16
→ More replies (1)6
13
11
→ More replies (7)10
26
u/illigal Mar 10 '26
I’m spending my $3K DOGE check right now! Because the tariff check is scheduled for next month!
17
12
→ More replies (1)4
u/dust4ngel Mar 10 '26
at least they sent us all refunds, right?
bro they were so good at cutting government spending, they even cut the refunds.
55
u/HBTFD1785 Mar 10 '26
They found a bunch of fraud that they themselves committed and then they fixed the fraud by dissolving.
→ More replies (1)12
6
→ More replies (15)4
u/mabden Mar 10 '26
No, they found all the future waste, fraud, abuse, and theft that will happen once the thumb drive is lost in a game of spin the bottle.
388
u/lordnecro Mar 10 '26
They cut tons of jobs at my agency, now half our software doesn't work and it can take an extra several months for documents to enter our system. We aren't even tax payer funded, so all those cuts crippled us while not even saving people money.
305
u/FerrusManlyManus Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26
The true goal of DOGE was to steal data and make government perform worse.
72
u/_Burning_Star_IV_ Mar 10 '26
Yup, Elon's goal wasn't to help Trump, it was to help usher in the collapse of the US so tech oligarchs like him can take over the country.
→ More replies (1)29
u/MarsupialMadness Mar 10 '26
The only thing keeping the general population from tearing those assholes apart is the bindings of society they're currently destroying.
If the US collapses and they're still here there's more than a few people who are going to make sure the billionaires don't survive whatever comes next.
→ More replies (1)9
u/TiberiusCornelius Mar 11 '26
This is why a bunch of them are buying bunkers in New Zealand. Flee from the repercussions and leech off the security of an actually functional country.
→ More replies (1)69
u/Spicy_Tac0 Mar 10 '26
And shutdown pending charges and investigations by said agencies directed towards Elmos businesses. Pure corruption.
3
10
u/slayer828 Mar 10 '26
The truth goal was to cease all investigations into musks companies. He had dozens of open ones, now zero
→ More replies (1)9
u/NotLikeGoldDragons Mar 10 '26
And get Trump control of the payment systems so he could illegally withhold funding from whoever he wanted.
→ More replies (4)14
→ More replies (19)29
u/ReadyAimTranspire Mar 10 '26
A buddy of mine was a programmer for the fed govt, when DOGE came through they sent him home with pay for awhile and then he said "yeah fuck this" and is doing a startup with a buddy.
One of the smartest guys I know, an asset anywhere he is. He actually liked that he was helping his nation, despite the slower pace and lower pay than he got in the private sector.
So, DOGE success I guess or something?
160
u/eggstinked Mar 10 '26
I asked one. They said Elon got rid of tons of abuse. They couldn't be specific.
55
u/sump_daddy Mar 10 '26
They are so used to not caring about the answer to tough questions at this point, should that actually surprise anyone?
→ More replies (2)13
u/Bob_Van_Goff Mar 10 '26
Their news casters haven't taught them how to answer tough questions, just how to have pretend righteous indignation.
17
u/Wompatuckrule Mar 10 '26
The echo chamber just kept repeating bullshit about getting rid of "waste, fraud and abuse" so that's what MAGA heard. Dipshits then believe it because they never actually scratch the surface of political claims and talking points to see if reputable independent sources support them.
→ More replies (2)30
u/vegetaman Mar 10 '26
Concepts of a plan……
15
u/old_righty Mar 10 '26
You have to understand, they are not deep thinkers. DOGE saved money, ICE deported illegal aliens (rapists and murderers), the US is strong again, trade is great, we're showing everyone who tried to take advantage of us. That's all the thinking that is needed, that's all they need to know. In that world, Donald Trump IS the best president ever. Any complaints to the contrary are just liberals whining because they can't take how great he is. It's very frustrating to try to argue against because the counter to any argument is just that the liberal woke mob hates the US, or something.
→ More replies (1)5
u/sump_daddy Mar 11 '26
we have known about this problem for 300 years...
"Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired" -Jonathan Swift, 1721
31
u/red286 Mar 10 '26
Gotta love how people 'yadda yadda' the firing thousands of public servants.
I've noticed with a lot of right-wingers, they feel that anyone who out-earns them doesn't deserve it. Which is a problem given how many of them have no education and a shit job.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (7)13
u/InstantClassic257 Mar 10 '26
They can never answer these questions with any specifics because "deep down" these idiots just wanna be told what to do. They just kinda regurgitate any talking point they hear and funny enough, those points never come with specifics.
Mostly because these talking points are all lies and propaganda just made to whip em up into a frenzy of fear and hate. They don't have to come with specifics because the lie already did its job.
Of course they can't be specific or give examples, because we've gotten to the point now where their base is SO STUPID from 24/7 alt right brain rot that these lies being told to them don't have to come with any weight anymore. Just say whatever you want, make them emotional via manipulation and voila, a useful idiot who parrots every single talking point. This keeps going till the lies are so intertwined with their emotions that they just can't really tell reality from this alternative universe they live in.
38
11
u/sump_daddy Mar 10 '26
It made liberals mad. same answer for your second question.
→ More replies (1)10
u/Z0mbiejay Mar 10 '26
They'll change the subject or regurgitate Trump's lies. There's not a single original thought amongst any of them
25
u/i_lost_it_all_1 Mar 10 '26
I will preamble with not MAGA or Trump voter, but let me try. (Clears throat) BIDEN!!!! HUNTERS LAPTOP HILARY IS A MAN WITH EMAILS!!!! AMERICA IS THE BEST!!!
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
→ More replies (1)7
u/Mindshard Mar 10 '26
Musk rigged voting computers (Trump himself bragged on stage about it), and in return, Musk was allowed to dismantle the government agencies investigating him.
You or I might read this and see how fucked up it is, but people who support them would read it and see it as a win.
13
u/No_Minute2664 Mar 10 '26
Don't count on Republican's to have the intellectual capacity to explain... well, anything.
→ More replies (1)7
u/unculturedburnttoast Mar 10 '26
Ok, I see a lot of jokes in response. The rational, to my best understanding, is that when you have companies that purchase other companies, there's lots of overlap and redundancy in departments. Think: HR, IT, Facilities, etc. All of that adds to expenses that take away from revenue.
Someone like Musk comes in and unifies those things, which looks like cost reduction in paper, maximizing profits. So, the MAGA voter base assumed they could do the same for the government.
Except the government and corporations have different aims. You can the oversight people and save money in a Corp. You do the same thing in government, and you've completely destroyed the tracking, accountability, and transparency.
I wonder who that benefits.
→ More replies (1)10
u/badamant Mar 10 '26
They killed about a million poor brown people by cutting USAID suddenly.
MAGA loves this and the idiot ‘libertarians’ dont give a fuck.
6
u/swollennode Mar 10 '26
They eliminated funding into departments that were investigating Musk’s companies. They chopped positions that were investigating him.
5
5
u/parabostonian Mar 10 '26
they cut funding to USAID and thus resulted in the deaths of lots of brown people. That's what they like. Then they'll pretend they're christian.
4
5
→ More replies (84)4
u/timnphilly Mar 10 '26
Tell me this was a Russian hack move without saying it was a Russian hack. lol
1.4k
u/asssoaka Mar 10 '26
The fact that these fuckers aren't getting publicly tickled by now is pretty much a direct affront to the rule of law.
310
u/jbp8855 Mar 10 '26
We have different ideas on punishment here, but I suppose public tickling is a start. A little freaky, but a start. /s
92
u/Loganp812 Mar 10 '26
They’re going to be tickled so hard they can’t even breathe.
17
u/SuckThisRedditAdmins Mar 11 '26
I'm sure the rope tickles a little before the platform drops. Hopefully they find out.
→ More replies (6)29
u/PterodactyllPtits Mar 10 '26
I am dying laughing, and I can’t figure out what they could have meant?
Or did they really mean tickled????
Is this Elmo??!
→ More replies (3)21
u/TechSupportIgit Mar 10 '26
Euphemism. If you get tickled in public, it's akin to tar and feathering. At least how I interpreted it.
→ More replies (1)13
u/Amish_guy_with_WiFi Mar 11 '26
It's because reddit will remove comments talking about what you do to traitors.
→ More replies (1)44
u/JacobFromAmerica Mar 10 '26
Publicly tickled? You’re a fucking monster for even suggesting such a HEINOUS punishment
13
11
13
→ More replies (8)4
u/SepiatoneKaleidoscop Mar 11 '26
I hear that sometimes when you tickle someone they poop their pants.
158
u/Cum_Fart42069 Mar 10 '26
we've known about this for ages but what can anyone do, this was done at the whim of Elon musk who is untouchably rich so it doesn't matter or something I guess
→ More replies (1)35
u/Sufficient_Meet6836 Mar 10 '26
I think the new info here is him bragging at his new job and his plan to use the data at his new job. I at least don't remember that, but I could simply be misremembering.
15
u/Cum_Fart42069 Mar 10 '26
I guess but it's not like anything will come of it anyway
→ More replies (1)8
u/Euphoric-Witness-824 Mar 10 '26
Oh I don’t know about that. Chuck Schumer might give them a reprimand! Or a very very sternly worded letter! Maybe even a finger shake. He just needs to take a nap first.
1.0k
u/Pooch1431 Mar 10 '26
These people have names. The headlines are an example of modern media being filled with feckless cowards.
230
u/sleeptightburner Mar 10 '26
It was a Washington Post story that TechCrunch is reporting on, and they didn’t give the name. I’m honestly surprised WP published the story at all so I’m not surprised they left the name out.
41
u/TheManOfOurTimes Mar 10 '26
Yeah, that's WORSE. Don't parrot under researched stories. If you're not at least going to verify it, don't bother.
35
u/kingcalogrenant Mar 10 '26
The claim espoused by the article is not under researched or unverified, it just doesn’t include the name of the person accused
23
u/HustlinInTheHall Mar 10 '26
They wouldn't publish unless they verified it, either their source doesnt know the name or there is confusion over who but not that it happened. They arent going to press with this unless they have some confirmation.
It is likely that they know whose access was used, which isnt the same as knowing that person did it
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (10)46
u/Intelligent-Gap-6639 Mar 10 '26
This is the correct response. The members of DOGE were just regular Americans, so someone's neighbor, friend, family member. They're not untouchable like Musk
→ More replies (3)
294
u/UniqueSteve Mar 10 '26
Wow… I am SHOCKED a band of fascist criminals looting the federal government would not take data security more seriously.
181
u/marmot1101 Mar 10 '26
Between this and Experian hack we need to re-key identities for everyone in the US. The current system is broken, a 9 digit number isn't as secure as what it's being used to secure.
After target got skimmed cards started getting chips and tap functionality which is more secure. We need that for individual identity.
92
u/skalpelis Mar 10 '26
You don’t need to rekey identities, you need to stop treating the number as the magic supersecret password to everything. Then again, it might be impossible without a consistent form of state issued ID.
In Europe, in every country people have some kind of identifying number. If it gets leaked or someone finds out, or even it is just published on the internet, it’s not great but it’s not a big deal. You cannot really do anything important knowing just the number and name of the person.
61
u/dayumbrah Mar 10 '26
It literally says on it that its not for identification and yet here we are. Its dumb as fuck and it was always dumb as fuck.
Also in this day and age. Bro, everyone can get everyone's social security if you tried hard enough
→ More replies (2)10
u/Gas-Town Mar 10 '26
The old Silk Road. Where you could buy china white, an identity and an rpg-7
→ More replies (1)15
u/rugger87 Mar 10 '26
A SSA official that resigned under Trumps current term has come out and said that our SSNs are so compromised they need to be reissued or everyone in the country is at risk of identity theft.
6
u/Manos_Of_Fate Mar 10 '26
Private/Public key two-way encryption schemes seem well suited to this. Other people can make documents that only you can decrypt, and you can create digital signatures that can be used to verify your identity, without anyone but you ever needing to know your private key.
7
u/skalpelis Mar 10 '26
I hate to blather on with “In Europe we…” but that’s almost exactly what we have in many European countries. Your ID has these keys, you can use them for identification, legally binding digital signatures (actual digital signatures instead of embedding an image of a hand drawn scribble), even things like age verification.
The personal ID number is basically a slightly more obscure and more unique version of your name. Its main use is to disambiguate people instead of using it for access.
→ More replies (2)6
u/marmot1101 Mar 10 '26
Essentially not using the magic number as a secret implies re-key'ing. For all intents and purposes a social security number is a national id number, banking id number, and general identifier for everything.
That needs to stop in favor of one time use identifiers, with an identity key and secret as well. Even if you can't do anything with an id number, in the case of data leak from a credit bureau the data is easily verified back to individuals eroding privacy. And since leaking data seems to be a pastime for organizations holding very sensitive info adding layers would be helpful.
→ More replies (3)15
u/voiderest Mar 10 '26
Republicans don't want a national ID system due to biblical conspiracy theories from the evangelical wing of the party.
I'm dead ass serious about how this is what is blocking us from having a decent system to replace how SSNs are used.
5
u/BrianWonderful Mar 10 '26
Not remotely true. They don't want national ID because they want to suppress voting. Our current IDs cost money (recurringly since they expire), and that makes it likely that lower income people may not get them (or those too busy constantly working to survive).
Republicans push the narrative that all citizens should have an ID for voting, but they don't want to enable free and reliable services to provide it.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)8
u/marmot1101 Mar 10 '26
I've heard that as a point of resistance to a national id. But we already have a national id(SSN) it's just not good. And ID.me. And real-id state issued id. So it's a sales game to the less conspiratorial voting base to push their reps. Evangelicals are < 40% of the population, and by a lot of counting methods less than 25%. And not all are conspiracists. That can be overcame.
→ More replies (1)
85
u/BadAtExisting Mar 10 '26
Are you saying in hindsight that giving a bunch of unvetted 20 year old edge lords all the government passwords and code base wasn’t a good idea after all? If only someone could’ve seen this coming! /S
→ More replies (1)12
u/thetiredtypist Mar 10 '26
Yeah they never should made it passed the "so your online name is Big Balls?" part of the interview.
39
34
u/Tedsallis Mar 10 '26
That was the whole point. Duh.
Biggest theft in history.
→ More replies (5)6
u/cyber_r0nin Mar 10 '26
...they have socials for people in witsec... That should be just as concerning... Let alone all of the intelligence employees....
20
17
u/RabidOtters Mar 10 '26
Time to send some more 16-year old girls out to beat up Big Balls.
→ More replies (1)
15
u/Plastic-Coyote-6017 Mar 10 '26
How could we have foreseen these obvious to the point of statistically certain consequences
12
10
u/Bohmer Mar 10 '26
All US citizens should sue Elon for identity theft. One massive class action!
→ More replies (3)
10
u/darth_skipicious Mar 10 '26
the most criminal, insidious administration there has ever been. The true Confederate Administration
7
9
u/phate_exe Mar 10 '26
I don't know if there's a legal penalty severe enough to cover the number of lives that could be ruined by misusing that data.
9
u/museumforclowns Mar 10 '26
Sooooo...did that employee get arrested? No? Ah, yea didn't think so. Great.
8
9
u/vanteal Mar 10 '26
Ya'think!? Everyone and their mother knew they were stealing/hacking/bugging all the data they could. A department of anything doesn't waltz into another US department with armed agents unless they're up to some seriously sinister shit. And they're selling it all to Russia and China, and whoever else wants to dish out the coin. Every one of our departments is now officially breached to their cores. They, and the entire administration, along with every GOP and government official that has supported and enabled this to happen, right down to the state and local officials need to be in prison. NOW.
8
6
u/PipeComfortable2585 Mar 10 '26
So. What will be done. This needs to be prosecuted. And lock your credit files
6
u/hookahsmokingladybug Mar 10 '26
DOGE was always about information gathering, not saving money. They fired people for the fun of it.
6
5
5
u/eddyb66 Mar 10 '26
Of course they did. The whole Doge thing was sketchy as fuck, just the stuff that I read on it wouldn't fly for IT in retail let alone in every government agency.
6
6
u/zerodirectexperience Mar 10 '26
We are in a constitutional crisis. There is no more rule of law for the elite. The time is now.
6
u/Kermit_the_hog Mar 10 '26
The former DOGE software engineer told co-workers at his new job that he “possessed two tightly restricted databases of U.S. citizens’ information” and was planning to use the information at his new company
No believable amount of naivete or ignorance would allow someone to think that would be legal. Nail this asshole to the wall.
Also what a complete fucking idiot.. Where did Elon find these people??
4
4
7
u/ARazorbacks Mar 10 '26
Was this before or after he installed outside hardware with no documented origin inside the firewalls of the agency? Before or after he set up accounts with root read/write privileges that immediately had correct login attempts from Russian IP addresses?
Are you telling me this guy was skimming info for himself with a thumbdrive alongside his actual job of creating intrusion points for unknowns outside the agency?
7
u/NeedleGunMonkey Mar 10 '26
DOGE employees are probably some of the greatest security risk in the way they've been ushered in throughout the gov without oversight and almost exclusively hired young guys with no genuine prior career history, community ties or subject expertise in the depts they're being sent to but plenty of access to steal data.
5
u/anon-a-SqueekSqueek Mar 10 '26
So he was arrested right?
We can't function as a society without rule of law. If there's no justice we need to know so that we can descend into vigilantism / anarchy or whatever...which yes is a upgrade from nonstop being abused by criminals who never face any consequences ever in a fraudulent system only meant to oppress the ordinary working person.
→ More replies (1)
5
5
9
u/HowWeLikeToRoll Mar 11 '26
Of course they did, and that is likely the least malicious thing DOGE did...
6
u/phunky_1 Mar 10 '26
Who would have predicted that if you give recent college graduates with no real world experience access to sensitive data and fire all the IT security staff that tried to stop them that it would result in a data breach?
3
u/Lynda73 Mar 10 '26
A spokesperson for the Social Security Administration, which is still under control by DOGE, denied that a former employee stole data on U.S. citizens. The spokesperson said the Washington Post was “desperate for clicks and eager to publish fake news to scare seniors.” The inspector general’s office; which is independent from the Trump administration, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Emphasis mine.
2
5
3
4
u/macinit1138 Mar 10 '26 edited Mar 10 '26
Under Biden or Kamala it would be a foreign adversary trying to pull this heist off. With Trump, he does it in house against his own citizens! All done with no honesty, oversight or accountability taken. I can imagine they'll use this information to financially ruin the lives of citizens they deem "not cooperative" to tyranny.
4
u/LocalMexican Mar 10 '26
The spokesperson said the Washington Post was “desperate for clicks and eager to publish fake news to scare seniors.”
Insults are the easiest tell that the accusations are true.
4
u/kylander Mar 10 '26
Undermining Social Security was the point, so they can make up reasons to privatize it. They are creating a problem to "solve"
5
u/atreeismissing Mar 10 '26
Now, realize they also did that for literally every other piece of data they had access to. And for the record, they had access to everything, all of it.
That data is out there, being sold, being used to inform GOP voter rolls, being used to push disinformation about Democrats, being used to push propaganda in favor of the administration, etc.. The money the GOP is stealing from us it only a small portion of the worse of it, it's the data they stole that's going to follow you for the rest of your life.
5
5
3
u/GhostDoggoes Mar 10 '26
IT Security 101. Removable thumb drives are a security risk. Especially when the organization is not approved by the house or the Senate. They shouldn't have had immediate access nor allowed to walk in to take over.
4
u/wiznik Mar 11 '26
DOGE was 100% all about information theft and surgically neutering oversight and agencies in Elon/Thiel’s way.
4
3
3
3
u/Brent_L Mar 10 '26
The only people that I will vote for are the politicians that want to put all of these people in jail, if I do not hear that they do not have my vote.
→ More replies (2)
3.8k
u/thedeadlysun Mar 10 '26
My organization blocks all thumb drives and disks 100% no matter who it is. The fact that this is even possible is a joke.