Mon
Feb 3 2025
08:23 am
U.S. Treasury Dept. data breach?
By: bizgrrl

USTreas_DataBeach20250203.jpg

SKBubba Bluesky

The Treasury Department has given Elon Musk and representatives of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team access to the vast federal payment system responsible for handling trillions of dollars in government expenditures, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The payment system -- which is essentially a checkbook for the entire federal government -- is a closely held operation run by career officials, with a limited number of people authorized to access the information given it contains sensitive information about hundreds of millions of Americans.
...
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said that any "politically-motivated meddling" in the payment systems "risks severe damage to our country and the economy."

UPDATE, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025: A federal judge early Saturday temporarily restricted access by Elon Musk’s government efficiency program to the Treasury Department’s payment and data systems, saying there was a risk of “irreparable harm.”

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Lawsuit filed over attempts

Submitted by bizgrrl on Wed, 2025/02/05 - 6:42am.

Lawsuit filed over attempts by Elon Musk’s DOGE to take over U.S. benefit payment system.

Millions of people cannot avoid engaging in financial transactions with the federal government and, therefore, cannot avoid having their sensitive personal and financial information maintained in government records,” according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.

The plaintiffs are represented by two legal aid groups, the Public Citizen Litigation Group and the State Democracy Defenders Fund.

“Secretary Bessent’s action granting DOGE-affiliated individuals full, continuous, and ongoing access to that information for an unspecified period of time means that retirees, taxpayers, federal employees, companies, and other individuals from all walks of life have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords,” the complaint continued.

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UPDATE, Saturday, Feb. 8,

Submitted by bizgrrl on Sat, 2025/02/08 - 11:48am.

UPDATE, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025: A federal judge early Saturday temporarily restricted access by Elon Musk’s government efficiency program to the Treasury Department’s payment and data systems, saying there was a risk of “irreparable harm.”
...
The Trump administration’s new policy of allowing political appointees and “special government employees” access to these systems, which contain highly sensitive information such as bank details, heightens the risk of leaks and of the systems becoming more vulnerable than before to hacking, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in an emergency order.

Judge Engelmayer ordered any such official who had been granted access to the systems since Jan. 20 to “destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from the Treasury Department’s records and systems.” He also restricted the Trump administration from granting access to those categories of officials.

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