Get this straight ... they're not coders and programmers

[rickford66]

they are hackers. I never deleted code until I had a correct or better solution.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Yes. They are hackers, who probably never wrote legitimate code for a job or something similar.

Thing is, there's always a better hacker out there, then them. I hope they remember this. If a hacker was smart enough, he or she would saddle the want-to-be hackers w/ stolen funds and then set up a point right to the stolen money, nail them.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Are you saying they're deleting the original code without getting the new code approved?

[rickford66]

3. Allegedly

[forgotmylogin]

37. I wouldn't put it past them.

If they wanted to cut programs and fire workers, there is a normal process to do it. You notify everyone, then wind it down, and give people time to transition. You don't summarily fire groups of random people via email.

These people are doing the equivalent of starting demolition on a building that people still live and work in with no notice.

[usaf-vet]

39. I'll bet $100.00 today that someday in the future we will find out that eveyone one them could write the coded to..

...... give them a backdoor entrance so they can get in anytime from anywhere.

For example, this python code

import sqlite3

# Establish connection to the database
def connect_to_db(db_name):
try:
conn = sqlite3.connect(db_name) # Opening a database file
cursor = conn.cursor()
print("[+] Connected to database successfully.&quot

# Further operations go here...

except Exception as e:
print(f"[-] Connection failed: {e}&quot

# Example usage
db_name = "example.db"
connect_to_db(db_name)

This script is totally benign, but with enough skill, one could use similar techniques to look for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or exploit outdated security. The key point: any system can be accessed with the right knowledge, tools, and time.

[Irish_Dem]

40. Yes they most likely will have permanent access to all the data.

This is what criminals and sociopaths would most like do.
The data is a gold mine.

[Evolve Dammit]

4. That was my first take as well.

[erronis]

5. Just there to install hardware and software backdoors into the systems.

Musk will sell the keys to the highest bidders. First up: Putin, Xi, Nork FatBoy, BoneSaw MbS.

[Dave Bowman]

29. "BoneSaw MbS"

Took me a few second before guessing the right crazy dictator. That one is another psychopath.

[Richard D]

6. This is really like something . . .

. . . out of a bad science fiction movie. It's not going to end well for them.

[Dan]

8. Or us

[Abolishinist]

22. Especially us.

[Skittles]

7. total silence from the assholes who whined about Hillary's emails

yup

[turbinetree]

14. Yepper........total silence...........

[IronLionZion]

9. They won't tell or show anyone what they are doing

not congress or judges or anyone who can hold them accountable. This is no "audit" with no accountants.

[Attilatheblond]

26. Not coders. Not hackers, they are a flippin VIRUS

And need to be removed, isolated, and put away for a very long time.

[IronLionZion]

30. Who's going to hold them accountable?

Do we have any checks and balances left in this country?

[OMGWTF]

36. Yet Eloon swore up and down in the Oval Office that this was the most transparent thing since Saran Wrap.

While his four-year-old son told Shitler that he wasn't the real president and to shut his fking face up.

[ancianita]

10. Wait...

don't hackers need to at least be able to read code? Most of the hackers I've read about are indeed coders and programmers, which is how they got into hacking to begin with. These three things are not distinct areas of knowledge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker

One can be just a hacker in a group/team led by someone who knows coding and systems; otherwise, who you're talking about are just random destroyers, which isn't worth much in hackerworld.

[rickford66]

16. Hacking, not coding or programming.

Sure they read and can code but the only coding is back doors, which is hacking. Hacking for mischief and theft. From what I know, the government s/w systems are pretty ancient in most cases. Kluged over the years as needed and are like a house of cards. If you haven't lived the code for a long time you can bring it down.

[ancianita]

17. Sorry, they're not separate entities; there's a lot of overlap.

Old code systems (which our military is smart enough to retain, with all the equipment needed to run them, btw) have a kind of protection from hackers, actually, since hackers usually only know recent systems and languages. Just sayin'.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Agreed

That's a point I've been trying to make to many people outside of DU who are in favor of Musk.

[FHRRK]

12. GOD DAMN FUCKING RIGHT!

And to add, as a guy who worked IT for a couple of Fortune 100 companies..... I would have been fucking fired for changing/updating/eliminating any piece of code prior to it going through review and signoff.

[turbinetree]

13. Agreed they are hackers...............if I did the shit they are doing I would be in jail.........

.........if only the media would be calling them what they are hackers...............JFC

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. "deleted code"? Is there some context we are all supposed to know about here? Some news story about deleting?

[reACTIONary]

25. The reply upstream was "allegedly"....

... although I haven't seen those allegations, and no link was provided. All the allegations about "backdoors" and exfiltration of sensitive data are also just allegations. In fact, they seem more like rumors than allegations.

It isn't actually very easy to "delete" code because code is kept in change control repositories and there are offline and off site backups. Even if you do make changes to the code, it has to go through a build procedure to turn it into an executable image, and then the image has to be installed on the computing platform. This is not a very straightforward process and it would not only take some time, it would also take a lot of system specific expertise.

I don't give these allegations much credence.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

27. Thanks. Unfortunately too many DUers swallow rumours as if they were fact. . . . .nt

[dflprincess]

18. I notice there is a claim that one of these "genuses" translated a scroll from Pompei using AI

that no one else had been able to do.

Yet none of them were able to understand COBOL which led them to jump to the conclusion that 150 year old people were collecting Social Security.

[moonshinegnomie]

19. a lot of the stuff their screwing with is written in COBOL

zero chance any of them really understand that language.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

33. My sister knows cobol

She’s probably ungodly rusty by now.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

38. Then there's a good chance the data is stored in IMS/DB

I don't think they teach that in high school anymore.

I worked on mainframes for years, coding in COBOL, PL1, Assembler. Data was in IMS/DB and DB2.

Musk's young hackers may need a bit of help

[Linda ladeewolf]

20. Aren't all the old systems based on windows?

That’s what I’ve heard over the years, that’s why everyone in the government was so upset when they stopped using XP. If so that should be redouble though they might have to call in Microsoft.

[rickford66]

21. The original systems were in assembler, then Cobol on IBM mainframes

As new computer systems came out, emulators were wrapped around the original code to interface it. I know for sure there are probably several or more emulators on top of one another. I have been retired for a while but I doubt if anyone wanted to rewrite the original code.

[Linda ladeewolf]

23. My brother studied

Mainframe computers, I never did. I can replace parts on my computers and usually get them to work, but I’m definitely no programmer, no training. I always wanted to, but I’m too old to learn or remember.

[rickford66]

24. There are no dumb questions.

I ask them all the time. I could never update my old desktops and had to have help.

[Skittles]

32. I was a mainframe operator for decades

[obamanut2012]

35. Many are COBOL

These henchkids have never seen COBOL.

[FakeNoose]

28. Many of the best hackers are Russian ...

Just sayin'

[yellow dahlia]

31. .

[LetMyPeopleVote]

34. This the muskrat who fired the Nuclear specialists

This is a great example of a muskrat or Muskovite

Link to tweet

[John Farmer]

42. Now he will remember what they do.

[John Farmer]

41. If they could cause the SS system to crash in an unrecoverable way, they'd not need to pay people

Who'd previously been receiving checks regularly.

[OldBoss]

43. Silicon Valley - move fast and break things ...

and go fix them later, if necessary.

The COBOL angle is pretty important. Now Musk is saying we pay more for Social Security benefits to dead people vs living people, up to 150 years old. This is completely false - but he’s the wealthiest man in the world who owns a large (social) media company.

From Friday 2/14 …

Elon Musk’s DOGE team may need a crash course in COBOL
https://www.fastcompany.com/91278597/elon-musk-doge-cobol-language]

snip> "Some people worry that Musk’s young engineers might blunder into the COBOL code base and make changes without understanding the full effects. Normally, any changes to the code underlying government systems has to follow a set of detailed business requirements written by other agency staffers. Any delays or downtime in these systems has direct effects on real peoples’ lives.”

"It’s also very possible that software engineers and others within the agencies will impress upon Musk and his DOGE advisers the importance of respecting established norms. But Musk and his people are, if anything, unpredictable. Should the DOGE staffers attempt to rewrite sections of the COBOL code, it could lead to unintended consequences, including major disruptions to critical government services. And unintended consequences are very possible, if not probable."

From today 2/18 …

Social Security’s COBOL Software Comes Under Scrutiny
https://www.newsweek.com/social-security-cobol-software-doge-elon-musk-2032680]

The amount of sealioning from morans is off the charts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning]

[HarryM]

44. Here's an article from Wired

That tells us that people who are 150 are not collecting Social Security, and simply explains why.

Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project had uncovered massive government fraud when it alleged that 150-year-olds were claiming Social Security benefits.

But Musk has provided no evidence to back up his claims, and experts quickly pointed out that this is very likely just a quirk of the decades-old coding language that underpins the government payment systems.

https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-doge-social-security-150-year-old-benefits/

[slightlv]

45. And I "remarked" everything I did, so anyone could come in

and find the reasons and code trail of what I did. Yippers, these kids are hackers. But what else would you expect from musk? Look what he made twitter into! The goal is to do the same to democracy... to our country. This, from an illegally confirmed immigrant. Came in on one visa, did something else, and never went home. I say DEPORT!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

46. Here is a good list of these hackers/muskrats

Link to tweet