According to a protected disclosure filed with the Office of Special Counsel, Borges told the Government Accountability Project that DOGE officials working at Social Security created a “live copy” of the country’s Social Security records in a separate cloud environment that sidestepped usual security checks.

The group says those lapses put the Social Security information of more than 300 million Americans at risk.

  • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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    15 days ago

    All U.S. Social Security numbers may need to be changed

    Yeah, sure, and winged monkeys may fly out of my ass. But I doubt it’ll happen.

    • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      For sure. They were fine invalidating mine and everybody else’s Puerto Rican birth certificate but they’ll never put this sort of administrative burden in action.

    • ButteryMonkey@piefed.social
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      14 days ago

      Yeah, honestly they have needed to be changed for years now, what with all the data breaches and stuff… Pretty sure everyone’s info was leaked ages ago. Nothing has been done because this is how the people in charge want it.

  • hperrin@lemmy.ca
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    15 days ago

    What a perfect time to stop using social security numbers for specifically the thing they were not designed to be.

    • TheMadCodger@piefed.social
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      14 days ago

      Except the dumfucks have railed against the idea of a national id number since before they removed “Not to be used for ID” from the SS cards. So instead we have a national id number that was never meant to be one and stupidly easy to figure out.

      • 5too@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        You know, I almost posted that it specifically says on the back “Not to be used for ID”, because I remember that on mine. Looked online to be sure I was right, and couldn’t find it, so I didn’t post it

        I had no idea that they removed that. It’s not like they changed function!

    • Sunforged@lemmy.ml
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      15 days ago

      They would do it to punish out groups…

      They sure are making alot of lists lately.

    • runsmooth@kopitalk.net
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      15 days ago

      A cynic in me suggests that this may be a move to push people off the system and disenfranchise them entirely, or the new rationale to create a second class of people who are forced to live with increased digital vulnerability while a new class of numbers can be generated with different privileges.

  • guywithoutaname@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Regardless of whether or not they are breached, the social security numbering system needs to be changed because it is far from a secure number.

    • Dave.@aussie.zone
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      15 days ago

      because it is far from a secure number.

      It is only the American obsession with using it as a unique identifier for everything in their lives that has caused this issue.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        15 days ago

        It would be less expensive to simply trust everyone. Administering a numbering system and trying to prevent fraud costs more than the actual fraud it prevents, and does nothing to prevent the larger frauds.

        It’s like having a chain on the pen at the bank, with a security guard watching the chain, and three managers making aure the secuirty guard is watching the chain all day, but the cash drawers are open and the three managers simply help themselves to as much cash as they like.

  • XLE@piefed.social
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    15 days ago

    Borges alleges that a little-known federal tech team called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, copied the government’s master Social Security database into a cloud system that lacked normal oversight.

    I don’t know if I’d call them a little-known team (they’re infamous for basically fraud), but point taken.

    • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      The Trump administration is building a computer system so that States can ‘verify’ a person’s citizenship prior to allowing them to vote.

      This system has failed in many, many ways. That makes me think that they would use the SSN database and other intelligence sources in order to setup the system to fail at a much higher rate for everyone but likely MAGA voters.

        • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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          14 days ago

          This is a conspiracy I can get behind!

          Oh yeah this part is 100% my personal inference:

          That makes me think that they would use the SSN database and other intelligence sources in order to setup the system to fail at a much higher rate for everyone but likely MAGA voters.

          It isn’t completely baseless, the DHS has created a tool called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE. The push on the right is to make it so that everyone has to prove their citizenship in order to vote. So a system like this SAVE system is what they would want to put in place to make it easy to ‘verify citizenship’ at polling places.

          Having an electronic tool who’s underlying system is a complete black box and exclusively controlled by the executive branch which has been shown to incorrectly identify people’s citizenship status would allow a group acting in bad faith to surreptitiously introduce ‘errors’ that affect voters who have been identified (by the domestic spy network that is Google and Co.) as being likely opposition voters.

          I’m not saying that this is what IS happening. I’m saying that this system is exactly the kind of system that you would design if you were trying to do what I’m suggesting.

          Here’s a source about the system, because you shouldn’t just trust ‘people’ on the Internet:

          https://www.propublica.org/article/save-voter-citizenship-tool-mistakes-confusion

  • dhork@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    I’m less upset that all SSNs might end up compromised and more upset that no one is going to get punished for it. If a career Federal Employee did this, they would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

    But since it was Elon’s friends who did it, everyone in power will just shrug and say “who knew this would be such a big deal”…

  • Akh@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Seems like an attempt to interfere with the elections by the administration

  • goatinspace@feddit.org
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    15 days ago

    So they want to rewrite cobol in java testing with a clone of live db in a big tech cloud?🦧

  • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.works
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    13 days ago

    Thanks a lot DOGE. So clearly Elon Musk gives every American compensation, we get new numbers and have all of our credit history wiped clean to start new right? Bc otherwise this just means we’ve all been massively fucked by Trump and his band of idiots

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        13 days ago

        I feel like he would just buy his luxury in prison like Pablo Escobar.

        I think the worst punishment for people like Thiel and Musk would be to have their assets seized and any future wages garnished to be paid to the victims of their crimes, while they’re forced to attempt to survive in the society they’ve helped create.

        The consequences they face will serve as an example and deterrent for others like them and one of two things would happen. Billionaires suddenly experience empathy/gain a conscience and conditions improve for all of society, or, billionaires continue to maintain the conditions they’ve created while one by one falling victim to their own creations. Most likely they check themselves out very quickly rather than attempt to survive the nightmare they had no problems inflicting on others. Either way equals a net gain for society.

    • Kairos@lemmy.today
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      13 days ago

      His wealth spread across everyone living in the U.S. is ~ $2500 a person

      Not adult, not citizen, not household,…

      Person

  • HuntressHimbo@lemmy.zip
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    15 days ago

    Makes me want to scream. Social security as is sucks. Current regime would use its reconstruction to wreak unimaginable cruelty on everyone they can, but the current system needs to go. We need to build systems outside state control to fill every need that can be denied to people based on access to the social security system. 🙃😡💀

  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    14 days ago

    Soooo here is a general question about cybersecurity.

    Is it really important if there are no consequences to breeches?

    Same way big business see fines as a cost of doing business, I think we are getting to a time that breaches might become part of business as usual.

    I actually think that’s a good thing as a person who promotes self hosting. If the assumption becomes that your data is never safe in corporate hands, people might move away from having their entire lives on the cloud.

  • tomiant@piefed.social
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    15 days ago

    Aw shit, sorry, the department tasked with protecting citizens against cyber threats are all assigned to immigration enforcement duty. Have fun, byeee!

  • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    I fucking CALLED IT.

    I’ve been getting so many loan applications since they opened pandoras box last year. never had this problem. I even just got an alert my SSN has been found on the darknet.

    take my advice, freeze your credit report at all three major credit firms NOW. don’t wait, takes an hour for all three all online. doesn’t matter of you’re 9 or 90, do it do it do it.