Court restricts Musk team's access to U.S. treasury system
The Washington Post reports that a court in Washington has restricted Elon Musk's team's access to the U.S. Treasury's payment system following a complaint about a data protection violation.
The court in Washington decided to limit Elon Musk's team, DOGE, access to the U.S. Treasury's payment system. This decision was made in response to a complaint regarding a potential violation of personal data protection regulations. According to the Washington Post, Musk's team gained access to the sensitive data of millions of officials.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that DOGE employees cannot access the central payment system, which handles pensions and other benefits. Access was suspended during the review of a complaint from a group of pensioners. According to CNN, Musk and his team accessed the system to halt foreign aid payments.
Concerns about security
Members of the DOGE team, including young employees, gained access to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) database, which contains sensitive information about millions of federal employees. OPM employees are worried about potential abuse and hacking attacks, and they also have concerns about Musk's team's permissions and security credentials.
Musk's actions have raised concerns among some individuals close to Donald Trump, although Trump praised Musk, claiming he acted with his consent. The project offering federal employees voluntary layoffs in exchange for eight-month salaries has also been temporarily suspended. Around 40,000 employees took the offer, constituting about two percent of federal officials.
