Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is asking the Social Security Administration for information following allegations that Department of Government Efficiency employees uploaded a live copy of confidential SSA information into a vulnerable cloud server.
In a letter addressed to SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano, Crapo wrote that “given the large amount of sensitive data under SSA’s control, I consider the protection and security of [personally identifiable information] held by the agency to be a matter of first importance.”
The information at the center of the whistleblower’s complaint is a copy of the SSA database containing personal information for each person issued a Social Security number, including names, birthdays, race and ethnicity and more.
The whistleblower, SSA’s former chief data officer Chuck Borges, detailed in his complaint that the cloud environment housing the data lacked security controls like independent tracking of who has access to the data. Its creation “potentially violated multiple federal statutes,” he alleged.
Now, Crapo wants an immediate answer from SSA on if the data has been leaked or hacked, given the “seriousness” of the allegations.
An agency spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW in a statement that, “we are not aware of any compromise to this environment and remain dedicated to protecting sensitive personal data.”
Borges resigned from his post in late August, just days after submitting his disclosure, saying that the agency’s...
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who gained national attention when he rejected President Trump's request to "find 11,780 votes" during the 2020 election, is running to become Georgia's next...