“There is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred,” said the president of Social Security Works.
Altman noted Monday that SSA “has data on everyone who has a Social Security number, which is virtually all Americans, everyone who has Medicare, and every low-income American who has applied for” SSI.
“SSA has comprehensive medical records of people who have applied for disability benefits. It has our bank information, our earnings records, the names and ages of our children, and much more,” said Altman. “Older people are disproportionately susceptible to scams. The data at SSA leaking would make the number of scams skyrocket. And, if there is an intent to punish perceived enemies, someone could erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you have earned.”
I had to go to a meeting with my SO to apply for SSI/SSDI and they take a craaaazy amount of info including retirement accounts, your car and its value, who you live with, and a bunch of other stuff along with private medical info. This is an insane and irresponsible amount of info to have in private hands.
It’s ok, i use a VPN 🥴
And I live in a free and democratic country where such information couldn’t possibly be used to cause me harm!
This article puts things in a very stark black & white framing
https://landfamilyhome.substack.com/p/a-household-guide-for-cyber-defense
Friday evening, January 31st, a cyber attack was reported by various news outlets indicating that an external entity, DOGE, had taken over the US Digital Services division and then used badge credentials to gain access to the Federal Treasury department. Based on reports, current understanding is that critical government systems used for processing treasury payments including social security, treasury bond trade and medicare have been compromised by an external agent and potential malicious actor: DOGE.
Additionally, the database containing PII on all federal workers is assumed to be breached as well as the social security numbers and PII for American citizens. It is unclear what specific data was exposed at this time. More details are expected to be revealed as the news cycle catches up to reports from federal workers familiar with details.
