A whistleblower has claimed that the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration has uploaded a live copy of the Social Security database to a vulnerable cloud server.
There are hundreds of millions of Social Security records that are in the said vulnerable cloud server, and it was reported that it could potentially compromise the data of Americans.
The concerns were raised by a top Social Security Administration official, who revealed that upload of these files that was done by DOGE, a department that was previously led by Elon Musk.
Whistleblower Claims DOGE Uploaded Social Security Database Online
In a new whistleblower complaint released by Charles Borges, the Social Security Administration's chief data officer, it was revealed that Trump's DOGE has uploaded a live copy of the agency's database, which contains the personal information of millions of Americans. This was allegedly fed to a "vulnerable" cloud server, and the complaint further claims that this cloud "circumvents oversight."
The database in question is the Numerical Identification System of the Social Security Administration, and it was revealed to contain as many as 450 million records of all applications.
Additionally, the database also contains all the data that was submitted by applicants to the government agency, and this includes their full legal name, birthplace, citizenship, as well as the Social Security numbers of family members.
SSA Database on Vulnerable Cloud Server
Borges revealed that former team members under Musk's DOGE leadership who were appointed to government were the ones responsible for this uploading. The claims by the SSA official alleges that they copied the database to an agency-run Amazon cloud server that significantly lacks security controls, including not knowing who accessed it and its purpose, according to TechCrunch.
Back in March, DOGE employees were blocked from their request to access the Social Security records, but the order was lifted in June.
DOGE's Controversial Actions
Musk's DOGE has been touted as the watchdog of the United States government, and together with his close partnership with President Donald Trump, it aims to optimize government spending and operations.
However, since Musk stepped into the role, they were met with controversies, including many who questioned why they were asked to review the Treasury's Federal Payment System and got a "Read-only" access.
Under Musk's leadership, DOGE faced various problems and complaints regarding their operations as they probed the US government's departments and agencies.
There have been issues that include a DOGE software engineer facing a security breach when their computer was infected with malware and had their credentials leaked online.
Many were also alarmed when it was revealed that Musk and DOGE have been using a customized version of xAI's Grok to process data and analyze information that the department has gathered.
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