Elon Musk’s newly launched Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) website has already been hacked. The website apparently had a major security vulnerability which was quickly exploited by unnamed individuals. The website allowed anyone to make unauthorized modifications to its coding. Critics say it is not surprising at all. This is because whoever visited the site could tell it was developed in hast. Some even mentioned it seemed like an eight-year-old had developed it. If you want to know everything, we know so far about the DOGE website hack, this article is for you. It brings you everything we know including the background of the website as well as the security vulnerabilities that were quickly exploited.
DOGE Website Background
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was developed in the month of January. The main aim of the website was to showcase the efforts of the department in reducing government spending. However, it remained inactive for many weeks. During this period, the site only had three-line text and a cartoonish logo displayed. It went under further developments on Wednesday and Thursday. The website basically pulls its data from a Cloudflare page site where an underlying code is deployed.
DOGE Website Hacked In Hours After Its Grand Launch
404Media first reported the security fault when they received an alert from two web development specialists. According to the report, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) official website connects to a database any third party can easily access. This major vulnerability allowed anyone to make unauthorized modifications to its code that would appear live on the website. The vulnerability was soon exploited, and individuals started posting messages on the homepage of the website.
One of the messages appearing on the homepage said, “This is a joke of a .gov site”. On the other hand, another message on the homepage said, “THESE ‘EXPERTS’ LEFT THEIR DATABASE OPEN – roro”. These satirical messages were visible for hours.
What Do The Code Development Specialists Say About The Hack?
The critics, as well as the general public, raised major concerns about the security practices of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The ease with which the official government website was hacked within hours of its launch is bound to raise questions and concerns. The code development specialists believe that the website is a product of hasty construction. There are a number of errors and sensitive information exposed in the page source code.
Sam Curry, who is a coding expert, reported that the website is apparently hosted as well as developed by Burst Data which is being managed by a DOGE employee. He also found out that Cloudflare’s ImageDelivery service is routing the images of the website. The official website team has apparently resolved the issues and is currently working on removing the messages.
Can DOGE Even Handle Sensitive Information?
The recent hacking of DOGE’s official website has raised significant concerns and questions regarding its ability to handle sensitive information. The critics are now questioning whether the department can maintain secure systems or not. Before the website was hacked, the DOGE official website reportedly posted classified intelligence data.
Huffington Post reports that the site was displaying information about the size as well as the staff of a US intelligence agency. The ease with which the government department website was hacked and the classified intelligence data was exposed raised the degree of scrutiny for the department. The critics are questioning DOGE’s access to sensitive information and the possibility of conflicts of interest. Multiple lawsuits challenging its access to government data are filed against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
