this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2025

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The entire US Social Security database was uploaded on a random cloud server, Whistle-Blower Says (www.nytimes.com)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by Davriellelouna@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] Grumpyleb@lemmus.org 4 points 1 week ago (25 children)

Good, let everything go wrong in America, they might eventually wake up and realise what a clusterfuck they've allowed themselves to become and actually do something about it.

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[–] toofpic@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

"I just cloned it onto my server because my connection is not really good!"

[–] trublu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

the government may be responsible for reissuing every American a new Social Security number at great cost

Has this department made our government efficient yet?

[+] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au -36 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (6 children)

Zero details or sources other than one disgruntled employee, yeh I’m not buying this at all. They probably count azure or AWS as a “random cloud server”.

Really scraping the bottom of the barrel for anti-doge/elon content these days.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you read the article, the current head of the SSA acknowledges they did set up the system being discussed and that he's accepted the increased risk of the implementation as there is a "business need".

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What cloud servers are they using?

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Given it's the government it's most likely AWS or Azure. That really isn't inherently bad, it's more the attitude of "move fast and break things" doesn't necessarily work for secure systems with sensitive data.

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So again, it’s all just bullshit hopes and dreams by the anti-doge people. No data has been exposed or hacked, no evidence of it actually being on anything insecure.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In cyber security you may never know if a bad actor got access to your systems/data. The issue with not following good security practices is that you increase the risk of this happening.

Its like saying we should stop mandating vaccines cause the diseases aren't around anymore. When you let down your defenses you end up with outbreaks that shouldn't have happened and are harder to control.

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au -2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

In cyber security you may never know if a bad actor got access to your systems/data. The issue with not following good security practices is that you increase the risk of this happening.

If they're using Azure or AWS then they have a level of built in good security practices. These people aren't morons, they know what they're doing. In fact, using AWS or Azure you have to fuck things up to make it insecure, because by default they're all pretty locked down.

Its like saying we should stop mandating vaccines cause the diseases aren’t around anymore.

I'm 100% a pro-vaccine person, but vaccines should not be mandatory. "My body, my choice" - isn't that the saying? Or is that only for women wanting an abortion? If someone doesn't want to get a vaccine then they can suffer the potential consequences while those who are vaccinated don't (but they have to deal with the potential side effects of the vaccine).

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

While AWS/Azure do make the initial configs rather fool proof, that falls apart the moment you start configuring them for actual use. It's also especially easy to mess things up when handling PII, at the SSA level it's probably something that DOGE staff don't have experience with.

As for vaccines. Largely through that out there cause it seemed like obvious bait for you, but I don't think a single slogan "my choice my body" really encapsulates the arguments around abortion

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The people working at doge are mostly what people would consider geniuses in their field. Configuring azure databases to be secure is a piece of cake. Like I said, it’s harder to make them insecure than it is to make them secure. I know, I work with them every day. How does handling PII make it easier to mess things up exactly?

Good to know you were just trying to bait and “troll”, not really good faith arguing is it? You wouldn’t have been trying to find something to disagree with just because you can’t argue against my actual point I made, were you?

“My body my choice” perfectly encapsulates the argument for abortion because it literally is pro-abortion people’s main argument - and yes, I am 100% pro-abortion.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think the line "how does handling PII make it easier to mess things up" just about sums things up for me.

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

If the servers are secure and the PII is properly encrypted in the original db then how does it make it any easier to mess up? Would love to hear your expert opinion on this.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There are laws about how to handle PII and potential criminal charges based on things like the Privacy Act. Meaning there are additional requirements above and beyond how people normally store data on a system.

More requirements = More chances to mess up

[–] FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 0 points 1 week ago

And you’ve got evidence those laws aren’t being followed? No? There’s nothing that hosting it on a secure cloud server that makes that any easier to “mess up”.

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