Exclusive: Musk aides lock government workers out of computer systems at US agency, sources say

[highplainsdem]

Source: Reuters

Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.

-snip-

The two officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said some senior career employees at OPM have had their access revoked to some of the department's data systems.

The systems include a vast database called Enterprise Human Resources Integration, which contains dates of birth, Social Security numbers, appraisals, home addresses, pay grades and length of service of government workers, the officials said.

"We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," one of the officials said. "That is creating great concern. There is no oversight. It creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications."

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/musk-aides-lock-government-workers-out-computer-systems-us-agency-sources-say-2025-01-31/

[Lovie777]

1. Illegal ......

They are getting desperate, something real bad is afoot.

[StarryNite]

2. I'm not so sure this shows desperation.

To me it just shows they are not afraid of repercussions at all. They are just going in and doing exactly what they want.

[obamanut2012]

3. I agree

[Magoo48]

14. Agree, who will stop them?

Appeasement is running thick out of DC’s big white buildings and their satellites. Big talk and chest thumping is still appeasement if not followed by action.

[PatSeg]

18. I agree

It is like they're saying, "What are you gonna do about it? We do what we want and you can't stop us."

[Javaman]

41. They are going in a scrubbing files of people that they hate, know or want to help nt

[Irish_Dem]

6. It's not desperate at all. This is a person in control of everthing.

And he knows there will be zero pushback from anyone.

[NoonTimeRag]

16. Yes

This is what 'no fucks were given' actually looks like.

[brakester]

22. I feel your cynicism

but I want to set the record straight. The American public raised a big stink Monday morning about his un-Funding memo, and they scrambled to backpedal.

I get lost in cynicism too, but we can't lose sight of our power and dreams.
It's good to know people are engaged in this battle to maintain democracy and reached the "Not going to take this anymore" moment.

[Irish_Dem]

24. They said they only rescinded the memo, not the freeze.

This is double speak NOT backpedaling.

Perhaps you will be interested to know that the flip side of a cynic is a dreamer and idealist.

I am probably the biggest dreamer, with giant ideals and vision that you know.

And I am also someone who believes the Declaration of Independence is a sacred document.
The most important work in the history of mankind.

And the idea of We The People is the most powerful idea in the entire universe.

That said, I am cursed with a big dose of realism and science training.

I have no data at all to support the notion that the American people or the US congress
or judiciary will lift a finger to save our democracy.

[Baron2024]

27. Declaration Of Independence

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

Our lives, our liberties, and our pursuit of happiness are being threatened by this rogue fascist regime. We have the right to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government. If they are going to subvert the law, violate the Constitution, and destroy our government, we have the right to resist and to establish a new government. We are the people and we do not consent to this false and despotic regime

[Baron2024]

29. They Are Going To Cut Off All Federal Money

They are going to cut off all federal money in an effort to starve the people out. This will soften up the population. Once they have taken full control of the military they will turn the army against their perceived domestic enemies. A full Fascist takeover and the establishment of a Police State. Our main hope to stop them is a rebellion in the military. Anti-Trump soldiers and officers that are loyal to the Constitution and their Oaths versus pro-Trump soldiers and officers loyal to the Dictator Trump. We need soldiers like General Milley, Lloyd Austin, Malcolm Nance, and Adam Kinzinger to take some action to mobilize the Anti-Trump forces before it is too late.

[Justice matters.]

37. IF they backpedal on this one, they may have installed a worm in there already.

A virus so hard to detect and to get rid of, nobody will see the meltdown coming? Too late...

[Karasu]

45. Yep. The richest man in the world, and of course, he's out of his fucking mind.

[Irish_Dem]

48. Yes Musk is mentally ill and a drug addict who is now in charge of the US government.

[ancianita]

23. About that "something...afoot," don't get me started. My 'baseless' theory, based on Musk's Starlink shenanigans with

Ukraine and Russia...

There's both a public face and a classified status in Starlink's actual internal operations and uses.
There's also the upload & download ratio where the uploads are slow but downloads are superfast. According to Starlink specs, the typical upload to download data ratio is around 1:5 to 1:10, meaning for every 1 MB of data you upload, you can expect to download between 5 and 10 MB. Starlink can upload/download any amount of code, data, HTML and text.

The ratio is relevant, since the link also reports...

Enterprise Human Resources Integration, which contains dates of birth, Social Security numbers, appraisals, home addresses, pay grades and length of service of government workers, the officials said.
"We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," one of the officials said. "That is creating great concern. There is no oversight. It creates real cybersecurity and hacking implications."
Officials affected by the move can still log on and access functions such as email but can no longer see the massive datasets that cover every facet of the federal workforce.

The implications are many. Off the top here are a couple...
-- oligarch Musk uses his satellites to obtain data he couldn't otherwise obtain through official govt channels, which he could then download to...? in exchange for...?
-- oligarch Musk is subject to oversight from 11 other U.S. agencies, from which he can also obtain data from after closing access to their senior officials...

We're not even close to mapping the uses of this government oligarch Musk can make toward his obtaining global power over the next 2-4 years, though the NYT gives us a limited picture of governmental investigations into Musk's companies.

Graph from the linked article



Just a theory, I know. MSNBC has shown 11 governmental oversight agencies whose investigations of Musk companies could lend credibility to the above, unless/until the oligarch's felon tool in the WH shuts them down.

All these probable scenarios notwithstanding, yes, something real bad is afoot.

[KPN]

59. Desperation? More like swagger I think. They are taking control ... of everything federal. They

being fatass and the RW billionaires. The rest of us? We are just chaff.

[patphil]

4. Unauthorized access to government computer systems is a crime.

Attaching unsecured devices onto a government computer system is a crime.
I'm sure these people working for Musk don't have security clearance to be there. Nor do they have clearance to change validated systems.
Someday there will be an accounting for this attack on our government.

[Irish_Dem]

7. He is working under the direction of Trump who is immune from any crime.

Past, present and future.

Musk knows that he is untouchable.

[Bluethroughu]

33. General strike Feb 14 for love of country!

If the President will not take action, we should General Strike! FEB 14 FOR THE LOVE OF COUNTY! NO work, NO buying, NO paying bills!

No money!
Until trump and his administration resign!

[Irish_Dem]

49. Trump will never resign.

And he will send troops in to squash any dissent.

Most people need their paycheck to feed their kids.
And if you don't pay bills you get sent to collections.

Not buying things is a good idea.

[Bluethroughu]

54. What is he going to do? Make people go to work,

Make people buy things, make people pay their bills.

If we stay home and organize in our communities to care for eachother until these fascists leave, we have a better chance of recovering our country.

People will not be able to afford anything, anyway. It's now or never. I am willing to risk my house and good credit to save my country, by a full stop of everything. We have to all do this together, what other suggestions are there?

Going on as usual has got us here. We take control of our lives with the power of NO!

[Irish_Dem]

55. We can stop buying the cheap crap the billionaires sell.

But we still have to buy necessities.

And most people have responsibilities and duties.
They have children or older relatives to take care of.
They have jobs which deliver services to various groups in need.

People do not want to live on the street or eat out of garbage cans.
Or watch their babies and grandparents die and suffer.

The American people have the power to stop the fascist takeover of our government.
So far, only a minority want to save democracy.

We may have to wait for people to hit critical mass.

[Bluethroughu]

56. I understand what you are saying, but this man is going to do this to the country

Anyway. If we shut it down for two weeks, nothing done, but critical care...we can show a force of power.

[Irish_Dem]

57. This will not budge Trump in the least.

You are making the mistake of assuming that Trump will react to events like a normal person.

He is not normal.
He is a vicious, ruthless psychopath. With dementia now.

The only way he would leave office is if there was a very huge payoff for himself personally.

[Bluethroughu]

58. He's doing that right now, that's not the trick.

The only thing that will make him leave is a military stand down..

If there is no-one to govern and no military to direct, he is done.

[Irish_Dem]

60. It will take a lot for the military to stand down.

That will not happen easily or over night.
If at all.

[Bluethroughu]

61. I'm not thinking it's easy, but if you love this country

And have half a brain cell, you know trump is not going anywhere unless made to.

[Hope22]

20. And people don't think Musk touched the voting machines...

His brazen disrespect for this country and the people in it is beyond belief. He needs to be charged with identity theft to get the ball rolling. I guess he is too rich to throw in jail!

[ancianita]

38. I do. I think I know how he did it. But to prove it I'd have to have access to classified documents.

[Hope22]

42. Such a frustrating and helpless feeling! Nt

[Karasu]

46. He has more money and resources than anyone, and after 2020, there's no way Trump would settle for anything less than a

100% guaranteed victory. It's not in his character.

There's no doubt in my mind that he did something, and that "something" is the reason why Trump let him have his precious DOGE.

[pandr32]

8. The opposite should be true.

Government workers should lock Musk aides out of U.S. agency computer systems.

[Bengus81]

9. So computer hacking is now legal?

[Shipwack]

10. IOKIYAR

"It's Okay If You're A Republican"

[Justice matters.]

39. The convicted mob boss is immune.

Thanks (in part) to the stupid green voters in 2016 in three swing states...

[DENVERPOPS]

11. Okay

1984 has officially landed..........It was only Animal Farm up until Trump's recent inauguration.......

There are a few rough edges, but this has been in the works for decades, and purified in the last eight years....

[electric_blue68]

12. We Need some White Hat Hackers AGAINST Muck & Co NOW!

[Joinfortmill]

13. It's a five alarm fire.

[in2herbs]

15. If someone was on my property and behaving in a harassing and intimidating way I could get a

Restraining Order.

Musk is not an elected official so why can't someone get a restraining order against Musk that orders him to stay 1000 feet away from WH grounds?

[ancianita]

43. You'd have standing and could prove harassment & intimidation.

In the WH oligarch's case, who is the "someone" who can prove harassment & intimidation and get a restraining order?
And who would enforce it if the "someone" were to get it?

[Buddyzbuddy]

17. What will the politicians do when they find out they're

rooting around in their private information?

[chowder66]

19. Sure smells like a terrorist attack on our government and our citizens.

[Bluethroughu]

34. Espionage.

[Lulu KC]

21. So who's going to help us?

Do we call NATO?

Kidding/not kidding.

[iemanja]

25. It's so frustrating

and scary.

[bobandrileysmom]

26. Hmm

Well this might explain why I haven’t been able to go into the OPM website all day. Passwords changed five times. Stil no luck. Asswipes.

[Fla Dem]

28. Who are these "Musk Aides". Do they have CLEARANCE to access all the personnel data

of government workers. If I was a Gov't worker, I sure as hell wouldn't want them accessing my personal info.

What about retired workers, or Social Security info? Do they have access to all our information.

This is getting scarier and scarier. I feel like I'm reading a dystopian political novel.

[Bluethroughu]

35. Espionage.

[Baron2024]

30. They Are Going To Cut Off All Federal Money

They are going to cut off all federal money in an effort to starve the people out. This will soften up the population. Once they have taken full control of the military they will turn the army against their perceived domestic enemies. A full Fascist takeover and the establishment of a Police State.

Our main hope to stop them is a rebellion in the military. Anti-Trump soldiers and officers that are loyal to the Constitution and their Oaths versus pro-Trump soldiers and officers loyal to the Dictator Trump. We need soldiers like General Milley, Lloyd Austin, Malcolm Nance, and Adam Kinzinger to take some action to mobilize the Anti-Trump forces before it is too late.

[Ford_Prefect]

31. There are some very serious legal ramifications to what they have done. The people they locked out are legally

responsible for the maintenance and distribution of that data. They had to sign contracts delineating such. AFAIK Musk's people are not bound by such responsibilities nor are they authorized to supersede the people they locked out. I think the Senate had better wake up real fast or they'll be out of a job.

Someone should handcuff Musk and all the little gremlins, and put them in a holding cell until a federal judge works out all the fine print.

[Justice matters.]

40. Who's going to handcuff $WASTimuskA and his henchmen?

And if by any chance, if one does, the convicted mob boss can pardon him and them and voila (and he would in a split second).

[Bluethroughu]

32. He should be arrested immediately for espionage.

Seize his assets.

[dalton99a]

36. Kick

[Jakes Progress]

44. Slow motion coup.

Well, not so very slow. But every step is reported and documented. Couldn't happen without the help of the republican party.

[SunSeeker]

47. K & R for exposure.

[Botany]

50. Dear God this a straight out overthrow of America.

What is Musk doing inside our government's computers and voting systems?

And today Trump w/his tariffs on Canada and Mexico is gonna to start to crash our economy.

[no_hypocrisy]

51. What's the difference between this illegal action

and when hackers do the same thing and demand Ransoms?

[global1]

52. Who Are These Musk Aids?........nt

[hamsterjill]

53. He does this, and yet some can't believe he could have manipulated an election.

I don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories, but NOW can we all admit it’s a possibility at least?