Cybersecurity specialist at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Daniel Berulis told the US Congress that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk, could have organized a covert cyber operation that was used in Russia.
Cybersecurity specialist at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Daniel Berulis told the US Congress that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk, could have organized a covert cyber operation that was used in Russia.
Berulis accused DOGE of leaking large amounts of sensitive data and disabling various security monitoring systems used to detect malicious behavior on NLRB networks.
According to him, someone with a Russian IP address tried to log into their systems a few minutes after DOGE specialists gained full access to a huge amount of confidential data from within the department.
In early March, DOGE officers arrived at the headquarters of the National Labor Relations Board, which handles labor complaints and has access to classified information, to inspect the NLRB as part of a cost-cutting and efficiency drive. Their actions immediately alarmed National Labor Relations Board staff.
DOGE reportedly gained full control of the NLRB’s cloud infrastructure in the Azure cloud storage and processing service. They had top-level access — even higher than the agency’s CIO.
DOGE specialists immediately turned off logging, so all their actions were not documented. They also turned off security systems that track suspicious activity and provide multi-factor authentication. According to the whistleblower, Musk’s specialists used external tools that are not usually used in government institutions.
The NLRB also noted that about 10 GB of data was downloaded from the agency’s database servers. Cloud resource costs increased by 8%, which could be a sign of significant capacity being used for data theft.
Daniel Berulis also said that 15 minutes after the DOGE experts created their accounts, a user with a Russian IP address attempted to log in to one of them. According to the whistleblower, the attempts were «almost in real time,» but it is unclear whether he was actually in Russia or was using a disguise to disguise his real location.
These login attempts were blocked, but the unknown person knew the correct username and password for the fresh DOGE account. This may indicate that the attackers are testing login points compromised by DOGE activity within the US government.
Berulis' accusation is not an isolated case — there have been numerous reports that DOGE, for unknown reasons, distributed confidential government data between various agencies.
«This case was particularly sensitive because it involved the possibility of modern foreign intelligence gaining access to classified government systems, which is why we approached the Senate Intelligence Committee directly», — said Berulis' attorney, Andrew Bakai.
It was previously revealed that one of the members of the DOGE team, led by Elon Musk, provided support to a cybercrime group that boasted of trading stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent. Edward Coristin is the most famous among the DOGE techies due to his age (he is only 19) and nickname «Big Balls».
