The Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative launched by President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, was ridiculed online Friday after reports surfaced that its official website had been hacked, Newsweek reported.
The site, designed as a database that "can be edited by anyone," was allegedly altered to display messages mocking its security flaws.
According to Newsweek, the website's homepage displayed a message at 6:30 a.m.: "This is a joke of a .gov site."
Earlier screenshots revealed another message: "THESE 'EXPERTS' LEFT THEIR DATABASE OPEN—roro."
The apparent security oversight has raised concerns, particularly because DOGE has sought access to Department of Treasury records containing millions of Americans' sensitive personal information.
Earlier, Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., a member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee and a group of senators urged the White House to address the dangers of giving unvetted DOGE staff access to classified information and sensitive government data, including putting national security at risk.
But Republican lawmakers, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., support Musk and the actions of DOGE as essential to delivering on Trump's commitment to reducing government waste.
"[T]he whole D.C. swamp is freaking out that the unelected officials from DOGE were allowed access to these systems. That makes no sense," said Greene, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, during the panel's first hearing on federal spending.
"Federal judges were not elected, the Treasury bureaucrats were not elected, and they have failed to fix the problem that is enabling American taxpayers to be robbed."
According to 404 Media, the website appears to be hosted on Cloudflare Pages, a platform commonly used for web development and deployment.
Unlike official government sites, DOGE's page is not hosted on federal servers, leaving it vulnerable to outside modifications. One web developer told 404 Media that the database of government employment information could be edited by analyzing the site's structure.
Following reports of the breach, DOGE removed the messages from its homepage. However, the incident sparked widespread criticism online.
Journalist Karly Kingsley posted on X: "The DOGE Website was hacked right after it was launched, if you want to know how masterfully skilled Elon’s little army of minions are. Hint: not at all."
X user Pesach Lattin, who identified himself as a former hacker, posted: "DOGE website hacked because the "experts" didn't do basic security settings... And you trust them to do anything?"
The DOGE website went live earlier this week after Musk defended the project's transparency efforts.
"At a high level, you say what is the goal of DOGE, and I think a significant part of the presidency is to restore democracy," Musk said Tuesday during a press conference in the Oval Office.
"If there's not a good feedback loop from the people to the government, and if you have the rule of the bureaucrat, if the bureaucracy is in charge, then what meaning does democracy actually have?"
Critics say the rushed launch and security issues surrounding DOGE's website undermine its credibility.
"Feels like it was completely slapped together," a web developer told 404 Media. "Tons of errors and details leaked in the page source code."
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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