Total System Failure: U.S. Government Networks Will Need To Be Torched And Rebuilt

[Winehole23]

"but her emails"


Last week a cybersecurity firm named Layer3 Intel quietly announced (https://layer3intel.com/blog/residential-proxies-white-house-network?ref=karlbode.com) that they'd found something troubling: numerous Trump administration officials had installed dodgy Russian proxy spyware on their computers at the White House (https://layer3intel.com/blog/residential-proxies-white-house-network?ref=karlbode.com), potentially allowing unauthorized access to U.S. government networks.


This kind of proxy software allows users to mask their IP address, spoof their real location, or "rent" bandwidth for as little as 60 cents a Gigabyte. Often computers are unknowingly infected with such software, then used in massive botnet attacks.


Needless to say, this shouldn't be happening at ordinary companies with competently run IT departments, much less the White House, where you can now apparently access extremely-sensitive government IT networks and secrets for far less than the cost of a cup of coffee (https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/11/want-to-rent-an-internet-address-at-the-white-house/?ref=karlbode.com).


At least one of the 28 (!) dodgy proxy services found installed on numerous White House computers (Infatica) is linked to a Russian company whose founder’s web hosting business was central to cyberattacks against election systems in Arizona and Illinois in 2016 (https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/11/want-to-rent-an-internet-address-at-the-white-house/?ref=karlbode.com).
https://karlbode.com/u-s-government-it-systems-are-completely-compromised-and-will-require-a-total-rebuild/

[Winehole23]

According to the firm's analysis, data transfers from the White House using this dodgy software curiously ramps up each day after normal business hours:



Most of the activity happens in the evening, Eastern time: about half of it falls between 5 p.m. and midnight, and almost none happens in the early morning. That pattern suggests a person rather than a public guest Wi-Fi network: someone regularly on the White House network late into the evening, whose device is infected with a proxy SDK.

[Winehole23]

DOGE bros hacked the USG and stole, for example, PII for hundreds of millions of SSN#s


Last year you might recall that Elon Musk and his data-stealing (https://www.techdirt.com/2026/03/11/a-doge-bro-allegedly-walked-out-of-social-security-with-500-million-americans-records-on-a-thumb-drive-and-expected-a-pardon-if-caught/?ref=karlbode.com) DOGE bros had been caught installing unauthorized Starlink satellite terminals on the roof of the White House (https://fortune.com/2025/06/10/elon-musk-starlink-terminal-white-house-roof-security-risk/?ref=karlbode.com) and the neighboring Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

At the time, the Secret Service told the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/06/07/starlink-white-house-security-doge-musk/?ref=karlbode.com)that this was ok because Musk, e (https://karlbode.com/the-press-is-still-propping-up-elon-musks-supergenius-engineer-mythology/)verybody's favorite white supremacist fake engineer (https://karlbode.com/the-press-is-still-propping-up-elon-musks-supergenius-engineer-mythology/), was just making White House broadband connectivity better, for free, out of the kindness of his heart:


"We were aware of DOGE’s intentions to improve internet access on the campus and did not consider this matter a security incident or security breach.”



He's a supergenius rocket scientist! Why would people tasked with defending government integrity adhere to basic, long-tested security standards?

The White House is awash with highly-secured, multi-gigabit Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity. There's simply no reason you'd be installing slower, less secure Starlink satellite systems unless you were looking to engage in off-book communications or steal government data en masse (recall that one DOGE bro was found to have stolen vast troves of social security data using a USB drive (https://www.npr.org/2026/03/11/nx-s1-5745153/doge-social-security-data-whistleblower-investigation?ref=karlbode.com)).

[Winehole23]

gov't IT has been massively compromised on Trump's watch and Trump shut down cyber security


There was also the massive Salt Typhoon hack (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Typhoon?ref=karlbode.com), where Chinese-government linked hackers gained historic access to nearly every major U.S. telecom network in order to spy on government officials. The intrusion was so total, most telecoms are still struggling to fully understand just how compromised our networks are.

At one point Comcast lawyers told their network engineers to stop looking for evidence of intrusion for fear of liability (https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/20/salt-typhoon-hack-keeps-getting-worse-telecoms-tell-employees-to-stop-looking-for-evidence-of-intrusion/?ref=karlbode.com). Last year, the Trump administration shut down the Cyber Safety Review Board (https://www.csoonline.com/article/3807871/trump-administration-disbands-dhs-board-investigating-salt-typhoon-hacks.html?ref=karlbode.com) tasked with protecting U.S. IT cybersecurity and investigating the width and breadth of the Salt Typhoon hack.

[ChumpDumper]

lol it's obviously Trump. He'd never let go of his phone long enough for it to be checked out even if he was concerned about it.

[Winehole23]

OPSEC is not clean


Trump, and his administration, have consistently been found to be using unsecured personal phones (https://www.govexec.com/technology/2017/01/donald-trump-seems-still-be-using-his-unsecured-android-phone/134920/?ref=karlbode.com) and private software email services (https://americanoversight.org/investigation/the-trump-administrations-questionable-email-practices/?ref=karlbode.com). As a result, they've been trivial for foreign governments to hack (see this story on Jared Kushner's phone being hacked (https://www.vanityfair.com/story/jared-kushner-hacked-phone-secret-negotiations?srsltid=AYCX9vKgyrgV-qPDJNl_qZNPyrhOd7ejp0Aq_SU6uRE6WNuHwbOe2HMD&ref=karlbode.com), revealing he was taking foreign bribes).


Because they're too ignorant, corrupt, and victictive to believe in having a functional federal government, they don't put much stock in stuff like multi-factor authentication (MFA) or Common Access Cards (CAC) / PIV verification. And they haven't much cared for the kind of strict Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and Secret Service controls required to maintain IT integrity.


You'd have to also assume they didn't follow coherent IT security or hiring standards when building the new ballroom (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/trump-shoddy-ballroom-design-building-codes-safety-threat.html?ref=karlbode.com), potentially opening the door to a foreign and domestic surveillance bonanza.

[Winehole23]

will take years and billions to fix



It should be assumed that all the dodgy cybersecurity shit we've seen to date is just the very tip of a very large iceberg. I don't think the full scope of the damage – or how long it will take to repair – is even fathomable at this point.


Until then, U.S. government IT infrastructure should probably be considered completely compromised by foreign actors. Fixing it will require a total audit and rebuild that will be going on long after Trump is dead. You will, of course, also be footing the bill for that. With much of that money going to the same tech companies that personally helped bring Trump to power in the first place.

[ChumpDumper]

Is there a way we can seal it all up in American Flag Blue?

[ChumpDumper]

You will, of course, also be footing the bill for that.

Or maybe Jensen Huang just found a way to stay out of prison.

[Winehole23]

Is there a way we can seal it all up in American Flag Blue?

tens of people would love that

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36kbybzhwfi6gmpoapwiclix/bafkreiapfwzaduqfsibwaiitfv5qs7kbe3zedbqi2afb6yi2c r3bkt4kbi

[Blake]

Or maybe Jensen Huang just found a way to stay out of prison.

BUY THE DIP!!!