Alleged Social Security Administration database breach denied

The U.S. Social Security Administration has refuted accusations by its former Chief Data Officer Chuck Borges claiming that its Numerical Identification System database had been copied by Department of Government Efficiency officials on an unsecured cloud server, Ars Technica reports.

Numident, which is being continuously monitored on a protected server within the SSA's cloud infrastructure, has not been subjected to any unauthorized access or data breaches, wrote SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who last week sought more details regarding the security of Americans' Social Security information in light of Borges' allegations.

Bisignano also noted that Amazon Web Services has been used by the agency to keep personally identifiable information for nearly a decade, with Numident never transferred to a private cloud server within that environment.

Aside from conducting a vetting process before providing staff access to its information systems, the SSA has also been auditing its AWS cloud environment annually, Bisignano added.