Is Musk Stealing Data for Himself?
Whistleblower Reveals Shocking Data Breach at Labor Board
Think your data is safe with the government? Think again. A wild story is unfolding at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), where some suspicious characters from a group called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been caught doing what looks a lot like hacking - except they were supposedly there to help .
Here's the deal: A whistleblower recently spilled the beans about these DOGE representatives who showed up at the NLRB claiming they were there to cut costs. But instead of looking at budgets, they started doing some pretty sketchy stuff with the agency's computer systems .
What makes this extra interesting? The head of DOGE has connections to Elon Musk - yeah, that Elon Musk - whose companies Tesla and SpaceX are currently in hot water with the NLRB over labor disputes .
So what exactly did these "efficiency experts" do? According to the whistleblower, they:
Demanded unlimited access to the NLRB's systems
Turned off security cameras (red flag, anyone?)
Downloaded more than 10 gigabytes of sensitive information
Tried to cover their tracks by deleting their activity logs
But wait, it gets worse. After all this went down, someone using Russian internet addresses tried to break into the accounts these DOGE folks had created. Not suspicious at all, right?
"This is exactly what criminal hackers do," says cybersecurity expert Andrew D. Selbst. "It's like letting someone into your house to fix your plumbing, and they start going through your personal files and installing hidden cameras" .
The stolen data isn't just boring government stuff - it includes private information about workers, details about union organizing efforts, and sensitive information about ongoing labor disputes. Think about it: What if someone wanted to stop workers from forming unions or wanted to get dirt on their employees? This kind of information would be gold to them.
The breach has gotten serious attention in Washington. More than 50 members of Congress are demanding answers, and top Democrats want a full investigation . While the NLRB did their own investigation and said everything was fine, the whistleblower isn't buying it and wants bigger agencies with more resources to take a look.
"This isn't just about computer security," says a labor law expert who wanted to stay anonymous because of ongoing investigations. "It's about protecting workers' rights and making sure our government agencies aren't being used for corrupt purposes."
The whole mess shows just how vulnerable our government's systems can be - especially to threats from the inside. And with the average cost of data breaches ranging from $75,000 to over $300,000 , this could end up being an expensive lesson .
The big question now is: What happened to all that data, and how might it be used? As investigations continue, workers, union organizers, and privacy advocates are holding their breath, hoping this breach doesn't lead to the kind of corruption and abuse that could hurt American workers for years to come.
Bottom line: When the people who are supposed to be making the government more efficient start acting like hackers, something's definitely not right. This story isn't over yet, and a lot of people are watching to see what happens next.