Judge orders ban on DOGE from access to sensitive Treasury data

[Jessica_Rose]

Judge orders ban on DOGE from access to sensitive Treasury data

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/judge-orders-ban-on-doge-from-access-to-sensitive-treasury-data/ar-AA1zy4qM?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=520cf27865ef474abaf1401cf333be8e&ei=6

Story by Shayna Jacobs (21 Feb 2025)

NEW YORK — A federal judge on Friday issued an order prohibiting Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service from gaining access to the Treasury Department's systems and databases that contain sensitive financial information on Americans, leaving in place a temporary block that has been in effect since Feb. 8.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas said in her ruling that there's a public interest in protecting the security of personal information and banking information. She gave the Trump administration a chance to alleviate her concerns by providing evidence of efforts to safeguard that data.

In the meantime, DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, is prevented from getting into payment systems and other sensitive parts of the agency's operations.

"Defendants' interest in the modernization and increased efficiency in Treasury payment systems is not undercut by the relief the Court is Ordering," Vargas wrote. "Indeed, taking the time to adequately mitigate potential security concerns and properly onboard members to engage in this work outweighs the Defendants' immediate need to access and redevelop Treasury systems."

A coalition of 19 state attorneys general sued the Trump administration over DOGE's activities at Treasury.

[Lori Dee]

My fear is that they already have access to it.

The judge first granted them "read-only" access before total access was blocked. So for a short window of time, these hackers had access. Probably long enough to figure out how to unlock the back door.

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This is from an earlier news story.

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DOJ agrees to proposed order to limit DOGE's access to Treasury data
ABC News - Peter Charalambous
February 5, 2025, 8:20 PM

In a filing late Wednesday evening, lawyers with the Justice Department agreed to a proposed order that would largely prohibit the Treasury Department from sharing sensitive financial data with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

The agreement allows two individuals associated with Musk but employed by the Treasury Department – called special government employees – to have "read-only" access to the sensitive data.

Once approved by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is overseeing the case, the agreement will stay in place until Feb. 24 when both sides return to court to argue about a long-term preliminary injunction.

The two special government employees allowed to continue seeing Treasury Department data are Tom Krause and Marko Elez, according to the filing. Krause is the former chief executive of Cloud Software Group, a Silicon Valley tech company. Marko Elez is a 25-year-old engineer who used to work for Musk's X and SpaceX.

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Oh, and Marko Elez, one of the people who was given access, resigned a day later.
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Nothing suspicious going on here. Move along.