Did DOGE Cause the Biggest Data Breach in US History?

It’s all over the news. Sensitive security information (SSI) belonging to over 300 million Americans has been exposed. But what information was leaked, and most of all, how did this happen?

Data breaches aren’t anything new, but if something doesn’t change in the United States, and fast, most of the country will soon be dealing with identity theft. Keep reading to learn more.

United States Social Security Data Breach

In April 2025, Elon Musk directed his DOGE team, which was mostly composed of recent high school graduates, to migrate American SSI to a cloud system. Cloud servers are not physical servers, but rather ones that exist in cyberspace. At the time, facing fears of physical server damage or theft, it seemed like a good idea overall.

However, like everything else in United States history, the government decided to cut corners. Rather than build their own secure and unique server, which they could have control over, they uploaded the information to an unsecured one. Now that information has apparently been compromised and possibly stolen.

While information about this breach is still developing, we will try our best to explain who should be worried, and what you should do to protect yourself from potential identity theft.

What is so Important About Social Security Numbers?

Americans use social security numbers so frequently that it can be difficult to realize how private this information is. The reality is, Social Security numbers are how Americans register to vote, attain a credit score, and file taxes. When these numbers go missing, a threat actor can cause all sorts of damage with just this number, a name, and a birthdate.

Countries all over the world have a similar number attached to each of their citizens. But where other countries take extreme precautions to protect their citizens from fraud, the United States typically leaves privacy up to chance, something which has harmed American citizens repeatedly.

So, Who’s Information Was Stolen?

First and foremost, we want to make it clear that there are two potential breaches that have happened in recent months. The smaller of which, a TransUnion breach, only affected 4.4 million Americans, and you should have received an email on July 30th if you were one of the ones affected.

The other, and more serious case began in April 2025, when DOGE uploaded American information to the unsecured cloud servers. While we don’t know for certain that a bad actor has gained access, we are unable to verify who exactly has access to this data. Not only that, but the SSI data of 300 million Americans was uploaded to this cloud. Considering there are only 347 million of us, it is likely your data is among the pile.

Therefore, it is extremely likely that someone already has your SSI and could use it for malicious actions at any time. Of course, it is unlikely that one threat actor stole it all, or even if they did, that they will use it all today. Regardless, you should assume you are a victim of identity theft, which could become apparent at any time. Thus, you need to take actions to protect yourself now.

What Information Has Been Stolen?

Before we get into our tips, here is a brief list of all the SSI which was uploaded to the unsecured servers:

·      Full legal names

·      Social Security numbers

·      Dates of Birth

·      Addresses

·      Citizenship status

·      Parents name

There is additionally some cases were even more information was uploaded, though it has not been specifically listed.

4 Steps to Protect Yourself Against Identity Theft

As you can see above, most of the information stolen isn’t things you can change. Thus, you must go through the steps below to ensure you are protected.

1. Sign Up for Identity Monitoring Services

Identity monitoring services are always a good idea. And, in cases where your social security number has been stolen, they may be the only way to protect yourself against fraud. If you don’t have the money to pay for identity monitoring, we recommend locking your credit on all major credit bureau websites—TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. This process should be free on all of these websites.

2. Change Security Questions

Many individuals use security questions that include their parents’ names, or their mother's maiden name. This information may be exposed now. Go through all of your major banking websites, as well as any company that has your SSN (such as a credit card), and change your security question to something that can’t be guessed, like your first pet or high school mascot.

3. Enable 2FA

You should enable 2FA on every website with a username and password. Though this can be time-consuming, this is one of the number one ways to protect your account. If a website doesn’t have 2FA, it may be worth emailing customer service to see what else can be done to protect your information.

4. Change All Passwords/Set Up Login Alerts

You’re probably surprised we haven’t recommended changing passwords before this, and that is because most companies will release a password change link when the right SSN is entered—meaning the fact that your SSN has been exposed is a huge deal.

That being said, the threat actor would need to access your email. So, if nothing else, ensure this has the strongest password of all, and if you use a major email provider, set up alerts to notify you when someone is logging into your account. Most websites, like Google and Apple, offer popups for your phone when your account is being logged into.

Overall, the fact that the US government has compromised American data is nothing new—though it is still very scary. If you haven’t implemented the above security measures, we recommend working on them this weekend. Because at this point, someone you don’t know has been able to access your data, and your identity could be compromised at any moment. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.