HomeBlog DOGE as a National CyberattackIn the span of just weeks, the US government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its historynot through a sophisticated cyberattack or an act of foreign espionage, but through official orders by a billionaire with a poorly defined government role. And the implications for national security are profound.First, it was reported that people associated with the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had accessed the US Treasury computer system, giving them the ability to collect data on and potentially control the departments roughly $5.45 trillion in annual federal payments.Then, we learned that uncleared DOGE personnel had gained access to classified data from the US Agency for International Development, possibly copying it onto their own systems. Next, the Office of Personnel Managementwhich holds detailed personal data on millions of federal employees, including those with security clearanceswas compromised. After that, Medicaid and Medicare records were compromised.Meanwhile, only partially redacted names of CIA employees were sent over an unclassified email account. DOGE personnel are also reported to be feeding Education Department data into artificial intelligence software, and they have also started working at the Department of Energy.This story is moving very fast. On Feb. 8, a federal judge blocked the DOGE team from accessing the Treasury Department systems any further. But given that DOGE workers have already copied data and possibly installed and modified software, its unclear how this fixes anything.In any case, breaches of other critical government systems are likely to follow unless federal employees stand firm on the protocols protecting national security.The systems that DOGE is accessing are not esoteric pieces of our nations infrastructurethey are the sinews of government.For example, the Treasury Department systems contain the technical blueprints for how the federal government moves money, while the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) network contains information on who and what organizations the government employs and contracts with.What makes this situation unprecedented isnt just the scope, but also the method of attack. Foreign adversaries typically spend years attempting to penetrate government systems such as these, using stealth to avoid being seen and carefully hiding any tells or tracks. The Chinese governments 2015 breach of OPM was a significant US security failure, and it illustrated how personnel data could be used to identify intelligence officers and compromise national security.In this case, external operators with limited experience and minimal oversight are doing their work in plain sight and under massive public scrutiny: gaining the highest levels of administrative access and making changes to the United States most sensitive networks, potentially introducing new security vulnerabilities in the process.But the most alarming aspect isnt just the access being granted. Its the systematic dismantling of security measures that would detect and prevent misuseincluding standard incident response protocols, auditing, and change-tracking mechanismsby removing the career officials in charge of those security measures and replacing them with inexperienced operators.The Treasurys computer systems have such an impact on national security that they were designed with the same principle that guides nuclear launch protocols: No single person should have unlimited power. Just as launching a nuclear missile requires two separate officers turning their keys simultaneously, making changes to critical financial systems traditionally requires multiple authorized personnel working in concert.This approach, known as separation of duties, isnt just bureaucratic red tape; its a fundamental security principle as old as banking itself. When your local bank processes a large transfer, it requires two different employees to verify the transaction. When a company issues a major financial report, separate teams must review and approve it. These arent just formalitiestheyre essential safeguards against corruption and error. These measures have been bypassed or ignored. Its as if someone found a way to rob Fort Knox by simply declaring that the new official policy is to fire all the guards and allow unescorted visits to the vault.The implications for national security are staggering. Sen. Ron Wyden said his office had learned that the attackers gained privileges that allow them to modify core programs in Treasury Department computers that verify federal payments, access encrypted keys that secure financial transactions, and alter audit logs that record system changes. Over at OPM, reports indicate that individuals associated with DOGE connected an unauthorized server into the network. They are also reportedly training AI software on all of this sensitive data.This is much more critical than the initial unauthorized access. These new servers have unknown capabilities and configurations, and theres no evidence that this new code has gone through any rigorous security testing protocols. The AIs being trained are certainly not secure enough for this kind of data. All are ideal targets for any adversary, foreign or domestic, also seeking access to federal data.Theres a reason why every modificationhardware or softwareto these systems goes through a complex planning process and includes sophisticated access-control mechanisms. The national security crisis is that these systems are now much more vulnerable to dangerous attacks at the same time that the legitimate system administrators trained to protect them have been locked out.By modifying core systems, the attackers have not only compromised current operations, but have also left behind vulnerabilities that could be exploited in future attacksgiving adversaries such as Russia and China an unprecedented opportunity. These countries have long targeted these systems. And they dont just want to gather intelligencethey also want to understand how to disrupt these systems in a crisis.Now, the technical details of how these systems operate, their security protocols, and their vulnerabilities are now potentially exposed to unknown parties without any of the usual safeguards. Instead of having to breach heavily fortified digital walls, these parties can simply walk through doors that are being propped openand then erase evidence of their actions.The security implications span three critical areas.First, system manipulation: External operators can now modify operations while also altering audit trails that would track their changes. Second, data exposure: Beyond accessing personal information and transaction records, these operators can copy entire system architectures and security configurationsin one case, the technical blueprint of the countrys federal payment infrastructure. Third, and most critically, is the issue of system control: These operators can alter core systems and authentication mechanisms while disabling the very tools designed to detect such changes. This is more than modifying operations; it is modifying the infrastructure that those operations use.To address these vulnerabilities, three immediate steps are essential. First, unauthorized access must be revoked and proper authentication protocols restored. Next, comprehensive system monitoring and change management must be reinstatedwhich, given the difficulty of cleaning a compromised system, will likely require a complete system reset. Finally, thorough audits must be conducted of all system changes made during this period.This is beyond politicsthis is a matter of national security. Foreign national intelligence organizations will be quick to take advantage of both the chaos and the new insecurities to steal US data and install backdoors to allow for future access.Each day of continued unrestricted access makes the eventual recovery more difficult and increases the risk of irreversible damage to these critical systems. While the full impact may take time to assess, these steps represent the minimum necessary actions to begin restoring system integrity and security protocols.Assuming that anyone in the government still cares.This essay was written with Davi Ottenheimer, and originally appeared in Foreign Policy.Posted on February 13, 2025 at 7:03 AM23 Comments CommentsSubscribe to comments on this entryBlog moderation policy Delivering Malware Through Abandoned Amazon S3 Buckets Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.Powered by WordPress Hosted by Pressable