Elon Musk and DOGE behind major security breach, says whistleblower

A whistleblower reportedly observed unusual activity on the NLRB's computer network, including a significant increase in the volume of outgoing data. A look at the case.

According to a complaint filed by the organization Whistleblower Aid, Daniel Berulis, a computer scientist formerly employed by the US government agency National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), rerecently raised the alarm about a potentially serious security breach involving the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk and his team.

Berulis claims to have observed disturbing things in March 2025, when members of the DOGE team gained extensive access to the NLRB's internal systems, allowing them to view, copy and modify sensitive data.

According to the whistleblower, the data concerned included files relating to ongoing union cases, confidential testimonials, personal information on employees and sensitive items concerning company owners.

According to the IT specialist, he immediately observed unusual activity on the NLRB's computer network, including a significant increase in the volume of outgoing data, estimated by him at around 10 gigabytes.

At the same time, Berulis also noticed that the logging protocols, essential for monitoring user activities, had been modified. According to Berulis, these alterations considerably complicated the traceability of operations carried out on the system.

He also reports that shortly after the DOGE team gained access to the systems, suspicious connection attempts from a Russian IP address were observed. One of these used an account recently created by DOGE, with the correct username and password, suggesting a potential compromise. Although these connections were blocked thanks to the geographical restrictions in place, they were of great concern to the whistleblower.

The whistleblower then told CNN in an interview that he had received a threatening note accompanied by drone photos showing him at home, shortly after attempting to alert the authorities. He added that his superiors had allegedly ordered him to abandon his investigation and not to pass on his concerns to national security agencies, while the NLRB denied all his accusations.