Nobody could have predicted this (boldface mine):
According to the disclosure, the former DOGE software engineer, who worked at the Social Security Administration last year before starting a job at a government contractor in October, allegedly told several co-workers that he possessed two tightly restricted databases of U.S. citizens’ information, and had at least one on a thumb drive. The databases, called “Numident” and the “Master Death File,” include records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers, places and dates of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents’ names…
According to the complaint, he allegedly told the whistleblower that he needed help transferring data from a thumb drive “to his personal computer so that he could ‘sanitize’ the data before using it at [the company.]” The engineer told colleagues that once he had removed personal details from the data, he wanted to upload it into the company’s systems. He told another colleague, who refused to help him upload the data because of legal concerns, that he expected to receive a presidential pardon if his actions were deemed to be illegal, according to the complaint…
Borges said he feared that the government will never be able to determine what happened to the data after it was no longer in the sole possession of the agency.
“This is absolutely the worst-case scenario,” Borges told The Post. “There could be one or a million copies of it, and we will never know now.”
If you’ve ever had any kind of federal data security/protection training, this, in a sense, is not the worst case scenario presented in the training because no one would believe that someone would do something this stupid. This is the kind of thing that should get you thrown under the jail.
For those who do not know what the term insider threat means in government parlance:
A phrase often used is insider threat: someone who has access to the federal government’s information because they’re an employee (e.g., here’s the FBI’s introduction to insider threats). Looking across various federal agencies*, here’s a list of the features of the people who might be an insider threat that I compiled (I tried to stay true to their language):
- Vulnerability to blackmail, greedy, or has a large financial need.
- Destructive, compulsive, or passive-aggressive behavior; may also have narcissistic tendencies.
- Difficulty with criticism (personal or job-related).
- Minimizes mistakes, blames others and fails to take responsibility for them.
- Lacks empathy and loyalty, is ‘ethically flexible.’
- Has a sense of entitlement.
- History of frustration or disappointment, believes they haven’t received their due.
- Contempt for the United States government and/or the current administration.
Admittedly, Trump is the ultimate insider threat, but everyone Musk hired under the auspices of DOGE should be considered an insider threat. Not a potential insider threat, but an active one.
mikethemadbiologist