572
submitted 2 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Summary

Federal employees have filed a class action lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order to disconnect a server allegedly installed illegally at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) by associates of Elon Musk.

The lawsuit claims the server, connected without required privacy assessments, risks exposing government employees’ data.

The server is linked to the Trump administration’s plan to downsize the federal workforce.

If the motion is granted, the administration's "deferred resignation program" could be delayed.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] earphone843@sh.itjust.works 119 points 2 months ago

This is going to make the past OPM hack look minor in comparison.

[-] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 54 points 2 months ago

Hell, the massive communications hack the US faced from China few months back looks like childs play compared to this.

[-] moncharleskey@lemmy.zip 32 points 2 months ago

You mean the one that the DoJ was investigating until Trump came in and squashed it?

[-] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 67 points 2 months ago

Sue?! JUST FUCKING DO IT jesusfuckingchrist we are way beyond the point of asking.

[-] dwemthy@lemmy.world 26 points 2 months ago

Just aks the server directly. Aks it right in the power cord and then aks the hard drive. Aks it over and over

[-] JackFrostNCola@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

I cant tell if your saying it as 'ask' or 'axe'

[-] shasta@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

One way is a double entendre so...

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] capital_sniff@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

I heard the DOGE crew threatened to call the US Marshals if they weren't given access.

[-] Limonene@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Make them do it. The US Marshals should have resisted also, as DOGE is illegal.

[-] Proudly_Banned_From_Reddit@feddit.uk 63 points 2 months ago

I know he called it the Department Of Government Efficiency for the acronym, but God damnit how nazi-ish does it sound anyway?

[-] Xanthobilly@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Someone on Reddit suggested the origin for Musk is this. Which is a much more sinister intention.

[-] SmackemWittadic@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Let's be real, musk is an absolute asshole but he's not cultured or informed enough to do that

[-] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 62 points 2 months ago

Yo bro just unplug that shit wtf?

[-] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 44 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

You think they haven't tried that? If it was that simple it wouldn't have gotten plugged in in the first place.

It's monitored. You need to stop Musk and his lap dogs, who are backed by the DOJ and POTUS himself.

Everyone that's put up resistance has been walked out of the building and put on leave/fired.

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 33 points 2 months ago

If you're going to get fired anyway, you might as well throw it off the roof. A bit more effective of a delay than the 30 seconds it would take for someone to plug the power cable back in.

[-] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 25 points 2 months ago

What stops them from putting in a new server just a day later

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Nothing. Destroying it just wastes more of their time comparatively.

And it probably destroys Elmo's precious data as a bonus. Something this ~~haphazard~~ efficiently installed wouldn't have a well-tested backup procedure, let alone a backup policy to begin with.

[-] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Do PSUs in the USA have voltage switches? Just flick it on every server they install

[-] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Not usually. Could rip off the onboard speaker and snip off all the fan headers though, that'll take a while to figure out.

Edit; or a syringe of liquid metal sprayed in all over the board through a vent. Not hard to sabotage a computer physically tbh

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] futatorius@lemm.ee 14 points 2 months ago

See if they can walk 100 of them out at the same time.

[-] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 15 points 2 months ago

Pretty much. At some point stuff like this relies on everyone accepting it. The man in the high castle is a pretty good example of it actually. John didn't grow up a nazi, doesn't genuinely believe in it, but goes along with it so he can continue to provide for his family.

In the end what difference does it make it you are just going along with it or if you believe it?

[-] zqps@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

That's exactly what they're aiming to do.

The one thing that usually prevents this is the need to prevent government dysfunction and the collapse of whole institutions, and neither Trump nor Musk give a fuck. It works in their favor and their supporters are happy to justify it.

[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago

Damn, if only we had the 2nd amendment.

[-] treadful@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 months ago
[-] Crikeste@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago

Alright, so long as you promise to go second! Also, can I borrow your gun? lmfao

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 6 points 2 months ago

"oops I must have bumped the power cable while working on the server next to it, my bad"

[-] Darkassassin07@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago

5 min of downtime isn't all that big a deal.

I like your guys' enthusiasm, but we need real solutions.

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

"oops I wrote down the wrong rack location for destruction"?

[-] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 months ago

What makes you think anyone that would be willing to do that has physical access? I don't have access to the server room at the office I work in, and we don't even keep any really important data there. It's mostly just networking equipment. Anything really sensitive is kept on cloud-based resources that are housed at an off-site facility that is only physically accessible by the company that owns and runs it.

[-] Rolder@reddthat.com 3 points 2 months ago

A sledgehammer can fix most problems

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[-] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 56 points 2 months ago

Republicans do something blatantly illegal

"Surely this time the law will do something about it. Let's do nothing and wait for the courts to take care of this in a timely manner."

[-] futatorius@lemm.ee 40 points 2 months ago

I'm not advising a federal worker bring a sledgehammer to work. It might fall and break a server.

[-] DarkSpectrum@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

And definitely don't accidentally spill water on it, that would be a big oopsie

[-] smeenz@lemmy.nz 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Ah yes, be sure to be very careful with your hot cup of iron filings around that server.

[-] NooBoY@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

It was a bit of percussive maintenance, I swear.

[-] teamevil@lemmy.world 37 points 2 months ago

Fucking just pour goddamn water on it or shortcircuit the goddamn thing

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] x00z@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

Suing requires laws. And we're in lawless territory right now.

[-] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

Right? Like I'm getting raped so I'm going to politely ask the rapist to please stop or ill call the police. What the ever loving fuck.

[-] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago

If he really did this that shit will be hacked so fast lol that's not going to look good

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Do you think he cares if he looks good?

We're way past shit like that mattering. It's a straight up fascist power grab. He's openly saying to ignore all laws and do whatever they want.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Gerudo@lemm.ee 12 points 2 months ago

They probably already have offsite backups of all kinds of shit. I know it needs to be shut down anyway, but damage is done.

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 7 points 2 months ago

I suppose that’s better than nothing, but our legal system looks quite like Swiss cheese these days. These lawsuits can go away on a whim.

[-] mehdi_benadel@lemmy.balamb.fr 7 points 2 months ago

I would've stomped on it like "oh dear, what I've done? I really can't control my feet. Now the disk and cpu are in shambles"

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 months ago

Just pour some fucking RC Cola or Mt dew on the damned thing. Either one would be fine, RC for sticky Dew for eating away at everything.

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago
[-] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Those federal workers? "Jane Does 1 and 2."

Bitches getting shit done.

Hopefully.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
572 points (99.5% liked)

News

28429 readers
2611 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS