If there's one piece of identifying data you don't want falling into the wrong hands, it's your Social Security number. That's why recent allegations from a whistleblower are so troubling.
On August 26, Charles Borges, the chief data officer (CDO) at the Social Security Administration (SSA), alleged that DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) employees copied ultrasensitive data to a cloud server that does not meet government standards for protecting data privacy.
The whistleblower complaint was submitted by the Government Accountability Project.
The database that Borges said was copied contains records of every Social Security number the federal government has issued to Americans, along with names, addresses and birthdates.
The Government Accountability Project assisted Borges in submitting a protected whistleblower disclosure to the Office of the Special Counsel, as well as to congressional committees.
In the whistleblower complaint, Borges alleges that DOGE officials employed by SSA have created a live copy of a critical database, known as the NUMIDENT file, in a cloud environment.
The complaint includes emails from John Solly, a software engineer working at Social Security, who asked a career agency employee about making the copy shortly after the Supreme Court allowed DOGE access.
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