DOGE Is Undermining US Government Cyber Security

Uploaded on 2025-03-11 in NEWS-Cybersecurity News, INTELLIGENCE--USA, FREE TO VIEW

Before the Trump administration took office, what has become known as DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, was touted as a tool for injecting private sector efficiencies into the federal workforce.

Under the leadership of Elon Musk, DOGE has had an immediate impact, resulting in mass redundancies and the closure of federal offices and agencies, including as the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Less obvious are the effects of DOGE’s unprecedented access to many highly sensitive federal databases and payment tools.

Now, the US government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history and its not through a sophisticated cyber attack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by Elon Musk with a poorly defined government role.

The implications for US national security are undoubtedly serious:-

It is reported that people associated with the newly created DOGE have accessed the US Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the department’s roughly $5.45 trillion in annual federal payments.

The Office of Personnel Management, which holds detailed personal data on millions of federal employees, including those with security clearances, was compromised by DOGE investigators and it is alleged that government employees's medical records have been compromised.

DOGE personnel, without the customary level of security clearances, have gained access to classified data from USAID, possibly copying it onto their own systems.

DOGE personnel are also reported to be loading government data into Artificial Intelligence software, with unknown consequences.

The partially redacted names of CIA employees were sent over an unclassified and vulnerable email account.

In early February, a US federal judge blocked the DOGE team from accessing the Treasury Department systems bit only after DOGE personnel had already copied data and installed and modified software.

Given the extent and apparent careless behaviour of the people working at DOGE it seems highly likely that significant breaches other critical government systems have already occurred.

The types of data that could be accessed by DOGE would be sensitive tax and medical data stored at the IRS and Social Security Administration (SSA). This could include information on charitable donations, tax returns, disability diagnoses, adoption of children, as well as the immigration status of certain individuals. However, it should be noted that Stephen Miller, who is the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and US homeland security advisor, reassured the American public that DOGE was only searching for evidence of fraud and “unfair politicization” of tax data at the “programmatic level.”

Another potential issue that could arise regarding DOGE’s data access is that without transparency as to why they require the desired data as well as the purpose of attaining it, US taxpayers could be concerned about their private tax data not remaining confidential. With the IRS and SSA storing an abundance of sensitive data relating to such as large population of people, there will always be the risk of the abuse of this data, as well as cybersecurity breach considerations.

In particular, there is the possibillity that that as the head of DOGE Elon Musk, could obtain have access to the tax records of corporate competition as well as possible IRS investigations of his competitors’ companies.

In expert comment, Craig Watt, Threat Intelligence Consultant at Quorum Cyber, said "There is always the potential that access to this type of data could expose US government networks to cybersecurity vulnerabilities and provide threat actors with the opportunity to capitalise on the risk presented by disclosures of sensitive and personal data."

These events surrounding DOGE's activties have perilous consequences, unless qualified and experienced federal employees are able to stand up for and maintain the previous strict protocols protecting national security.

FP | FP | NBC | CISO Series | Wired | HKS

Image: Ideogram

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