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The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) within the Social Security Administration (SSA) is currently examining allegations of a potential security incident involving a member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative led by Elon Musk. A whistleblower has alleged that a former software engineer affiliated with DOGE claimed to have access to two SSA databases—known as "Numident" and the "Master Death File." According to the report, the individual reportedly sought assistance in transferring these datasets from a USB drive to his personal device, stating he intended to "sanitize" the data before utilizing it at his current employer, a government contractor. These databases contain sensitive information on over 500 million living and deceased U.S. citizens.

The Washington Post noted that the whistleblower’s complaint was submitted to the OIG in January. “When The Post reached out to the agency and the company in January, both stated they had not previously been made aware of the complaint. Both later investigated the allegations but found no conclusive evidence to substantiate the claims,” the outlet reported. It remains unclear what prompted the current investigation, and neither party provided further commentary for the article. The SSA’s watchdog has informed members of Congress and the Government Accountability Office about the ongoing probe.

This case comes on the heels of a separate whistleblower report filed in August concerning DOGE’s handling of SSA data. Charles Borges, a former chief data officer at the SSA, alleged that a database was stored in an unsecured cloud environment. “This represents the most severe possible outcome,” Borges told The Post regarding the latest developments. “There could be one or even millions of copies, and we may never know.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/social-security-watchdog-investigating-claims-that-doge-engineer-copied-its-databases-212722061.html?src=rss