Social Security faces shocking crisis after former DOGE employee allegedly stole ‘highly sensitive’ records

The complaint also states that the engineer said he stored some information on a thumb drive and planned to take it to his new employer.

The case has prompted an investigation by the agency’s inspector general and additional oversight by the Government Accountability Office. The whistleblower filed the report anonymously out of fear of retaliation.

An attorney representing the former employee has denied the allegations, saying his client did not improperly obtain government data.

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Privacy experts say the information stored in these databases is extremely valuable to criminals because Social Security numbers are widely used for financial services, taxes, medical records and government benefits.

“This type of disclosure is extremely disturbing,” said security expert Steve Weisman.

“Anyone affected by this may be at significant risk of identity theft. Social Security numbers are the most critical information when it comes to identity theft.”

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Earlier reports suggested that people associated with the scheme may have visited social Security Some administrative data unknown to officials. Critics in Congress say allowing broad access to federal databases could weaken security and create the risk of exposing personal information.

Officials said there was no conclusive evidence that data was stolen or compromised, but investigators were still examining whether any security rules were broken.