In a stunning security breach, two hackers have publicly embarrassed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after gaining access to its website and leaving behind a trail of mocking messages. The hackers told 404 Media that exploiting the site’s vulnerabilities was a simple task, adding that anyone with basic coding skills could have done the same.
According to the hackers, the DOGE site’s security flaws stemmed from its use of a database known as Cloudflare Pages—an unsecured platform that anyone with access could edit. This oversight allowed the intruders to deface the website with messages like, “this is a joke of a .gov site” and, “THESE ‘EXPERTS’ LEFT THEIR DATABASE OPEN -roro.”
The breach comes after Musk’s ambitious promise to bring transparency to government operations by creating the DOGE department, which he claims would streamline the process of shutting down inefficient agencies. But according to 404 Media, the website was rushed into development following Musk’s announcement, leading to the glaring security failure.
Tech outlets, including The Verge, are raising alarms about the broader implications of the hack, which casts a shadow on the government’s ability to manage its digital infrastructure. Just days before the DOGE breach, the government’s newly launched waste.gov site faced its own security crisis, requiring a hasty lockdown after it was discovered using an unfinished WordPress template.
The hack has left many questioning the competence of the so-called experts behind Musk’s government project, with critics suggesting that this breach is just the latest sign of systemic issues plaguing the effort to modernize the government’s digital presence.
