Summary
Elon Musk’s DOGE received approval to use PuTTY, a file-transfer software, at the Labor Department, raising alarm among employees over data security.
DOGE has sought access to various federal databases, prompting lawsuits from labor unions and privacy advocates.
A federal judge issued a restraining order against DOGE’s access to Treasury data, though not Labor’s. Critics fear AI analysis and unauthorized data sharing.
The case is now before U.S. District Judge John Bates, who expressed concerns but denied an immediate injunction.
Imagine this conversation in the IT department at a large bank:
IT Manager: It’s what?!
Security Engineer: Gone. It’s all gone. Every red cent this bank held in every account has been transferred by malicious actors to anonymous Swiss accounts.
IT Manager: How could we have let this happen?
Security Engineer: The hackers got approval to install PuTTY. There was nothing we could do.