The Washington Post reports:
Agents of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have gained access to highly restricted government records on millions of federal employees — including Treasury and State Department officials in sensitive security positions — as part of a broader effort to wrest control over the government’s main personnel agency, according to four U.S. officials with knowledge of the developments.
The officials, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, expressed alarm about potential breaches or abuses of such records by members of an administration whose senior-most officials, including President Donald Trump, have threatened to retaliate against federal workers accused of disloyalty.
Kevin Couture Files a Breach Report
But it’s not just anonymous government officials who are worried or upset about Musk and his team accessing personal and sensitive information. And one citizen wasn’t afraid to put his name to his outrage.
Kevin Couture, a resident of Maine, submitted a breach report to the state of Maine naming Elon Musk as the entity responsible for a data breach involving his personal information:
Data Breach Notifications
Entity Information
- Type of Organization: Other Government Entity
- Entity Name: Elon Musk c/o The White House
- Street Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
- City: Washington
- State, or Country if outside the US: DC
- Zip Code: 20500
Submitted By
- Name: kevin couture
- Title: self
- Firm name (if different than entity):
- Telephone Number: [redacted by DataBreaches.net]
- Email Address: [redacted by DataBreaches.net]
- Relationship to entity whose information was compromised: American citizen
Breach Information
- Total number of persons affected (including residents): 1
- Total number of Maine residents affected: 1
- If the number of Maine residents exceeds 1,000, have the consumer reporting agencies been notified:
- Date(s) Breach Occured: February 04, 25
- Date Breach Discovered: February 04, 2025
- Description of the Breach:
- Internal system breach
- Information Acquired – Name or other personal identifier in combination with:
Notification and Protection Services
- Type of Notification: Electronic
- Date(s) of consumer notification: February 04, 25
- Copy of notice to affected Maine residents:
- Date of any previous (within 12 months) breach notifications:
- Were identity theft protection services offered: No
- If yes, please provide the duration, the provider of the service and a brief description of the service:
He’s Not Alone
On February 4, DataBreaches had suggested that this was possibly the largest government data breach ever but might never be recognized as a data breach because the president authorized the access.
But now there’s Kevin Couture of Maine. Who is he? DataBreaches reached out to him via email to ask him why he submitted the breach report. He replied:
I did file that breach against him. I mean seriously WTF is going on ? I filed the report with my state AG against Elon Musk stating my privacy rights were violated as my SSN, banking info was compromised by accessing government systems and down loading the info with out my CONSENT or KNOWLEDGE !!! What other information did he gather on me or others.?
This is wrong and illegal. I have no idea who has my information now. And all his 18 year old tech lost boys may have it also and who knows what they could do with it.
Me and other friends want something done ASAP. This whole episode is completely outrageous.
So… has any big law firm claimed they are “investigating” this reported breach and looking for potential plaintiffs for a class-action lawsuit? Send in the lawyers.