DOGE's latest plans have left many cybersecurity experts fearing for the future, as the Elon Musk-led agency reportedly intends to consolidate all sensitive government data into one place in the name of efficiency.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has dominated much of the news since Donald Trump returned to presidency earlier this year, as Elon Musk's team has cut upwards of $170,000,000,000 from the federal budget, with much of it deemed controversial.
Significant protests have surrounded DOGE's slashing of grands for scientific research, and criticism has been levied at the department after it rescinded key foreign aid efforts - with Bill Gates in particular speaking out against Musk.
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Early on in DOGE's still-short lifespan there was also major controversy after employees of the department accessed the social security data of every American nationwide, but new efforts by Musk's team could further jeopardize the cybersecurity of Americans.
One of the last pushes by Musk before he officially leaves his role as head of DOGE is seemingly a move to consolidate the government's widespread data storage systems, collating them into one single entity that would supposedly make processes more 'efficient' and easier to track, as reported by The Byte.
Executive orders signed by President Trump have already given DOGE more power to track the spending of every federal department through a centralized system, but the new change would extend that towards the sensitive data of millions of US citizens across the country.
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As expected, this move has been heavily criticized by security experts who point towards the dangers of keeping everything in one place, especially as hacking efforts from nations like China are reportedly on the rise.
Speaking to the Washington Post, executive at security firm Coalfire Charles Henderson argues: "Separation and segmentation is one of the core principles in sound cybersecurity. Putting all your eggs in one basket means I don't need to go hunting for them - I can just steal the basket."
While DOGE's claims that having a centralized database where everything is stored makes things far easier for the US government, it equally eases the burden for any nefarious individuals looking for that data which is a far more dangerous prospect.
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Additionally, others have raised concerns that having all the data in the same place could lead to unintentional - and potentially exploitable - conclusions about individuals across the United States, which goes against typical government processes.
"You want people to have the least amount of access that they absolutely need," argues Faith Williams, director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program at the Project on Government Oversight. "So if someone comes in and asks a question, it's not 'here's the master key'."
It seems experts are pointing towards multiple weaknesses in a consolidated process that make the move a frightening prospect, yet DOGE remains committed to the plan and the White House insists that "every action taken is fully compliant with the law" in an effort to "modernize the federal government and make it more efficient."