Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 75 posts

Re: DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

#11

Post by like_any_other »

dekhn wrote: post #7
like_any_other wrote: post #6

[flagged]

Likely the company in question does not want to share what their internal proprietary data that was leaked was. Either way, that, along with the brags from the ex-employee about still having access to the company's machines after termination, speaks to his character. It seems pretty clear, taking all the evidence into account, that it was unwise to give him a high level of access to government data.

> Likely the company in question does not want to share what their internal proprietary data that was leaked was.

If they want us to use it to evaluate his character, some hint would be needed. Was it a legitimate trade secret, or was it trivial and only an excuse to fire him. Companies claiming everything under the sun is a "trade secret" is nothing new - Microsoft famously claimed their extensions to Kerberos were a trade secret, despite releasing their spec to everyone, guarded only by a clickthrough license: https://slashdot.org/story/00/05/02/158204/kerberos-pacs-and...

But if they say what we like to hear, corporations turn into saints incapable of even slightly bending the truth.

> Either way, that, along with the brags from the ex-employee about still having access to the company's machines after termination, speaks to his character.

They neglected to change passwords, and yet "I never exploited it because it's just not me." were his words. Yeah, what vile character.

Re: DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

#12

Post by fzeroracer »

like_any_other wrote: post #6

[flagged]

This isn't the ironclad defense you think it is. The company confirmed this is why they were fired, this all took place before he was even in the political spotlight and his response being to brag about it isn't exactly a stellar mark on his character.

Re: DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

#13

Post by relaxing »

like_any_other wrote: post #11
dekhn wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likely the company in question does not want to share what their internal proprietary data that was leaked was. Either way, that, along with the brags from the ex-employee about still having access to the company's machines after termination, speaks to his character. It seems pretty clear, taking all the evidence into account, that it was unwise to give him a high level of access to government data.

> Likely the company in question does not want to share what their internal proprietary data that was leaked was. If they want us to use it to evaluate his character, some hint would be needed. Was it a legitimate trade secret, or was it trivial and only an excuse to fire him. Companies claiming everything under the sun is a "trade secret" is nothing new - Microsoft famously claimed their extensions to Kerberos were…

How would he know the passwords weren’t changed.

Re: DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

#14

Post by dang »

_fs wrote: post #5

[flagged]

> No discussion of this sort shall be allowed on hn

Here is the largest HN thread from the last 3 months (and the 3rd largest in all of the last year):

The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42910910 - Feb 2025 (2954 comments)

Other recent large discussions include:

Elon Musk's Demolition Crew - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42968430 - Feb 2025 (304 comments)

DOGE employees ordered to stop using Slack - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42951458 - Feb 2025 (355 comments)

Onlookers freak out as 25-year-old set loose on Treasury computer system - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42936421 - Feb 2025 (130 comments)

In fact, this is probably the most-discussed topic of the last month on HN; I can't think of another, offhand, that would come close. (Edit: probably the Tiktok ban business?)

Re: DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

#16

Post by dekhn »

like_any_other wrote: post #11
dekhn wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likely the company in question does not want to share what their internal proprietary data that was leaked was. Either way, that, along with the brags from the ex-employee about still having access to the company's machines after termination, speaks to his character. It seems pretty clear, taking all the evidence into account, that it was unwise to give him a high level of access to government data.

> Likely the company in question does not want to share what their internal proprietary data that was leaked was. If they want us to use it to evaluate his character, some hint would be needed. Was it a legitimate trade secret, or was it trivial and only an excuse to fire him. Companies claiming everything under the sun is a "trade secret" is nothing new - Microsoft famously claimed their extensions to Kerberos were…

The magnitude of the secret does not matter: if your company says "don't steal and leak our data" and you go ahead and do it, it's still wrong (the main exception I can think of is ethical whistleblowing).

Again, bragging you have access after being terminated is bad regardless of whether you exploited the access.

To me these are the sort of details that could prevent you from passing a security clearance process, although I am not highly knowledgeable about the process beyond talking to people who have (and they weren't forthcoming).

Re: DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

#17

Post by like_any_other »

dekhn wrote: post #16
like_any_other wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Likely the company in question does not want to share what their internal proprietary data that was leaked was. If they want us to use it to evaluate his character, some hint would be needed. Was it a legitimate trade secret, or was it trivial and only an excuse to fire him. Companies claiming everything under the sun is a "trade secret" is nothing new - Microsoft famously claimed their extensions to Kerberos were…

The magnitude of the secret does not matter: if your company says "don't steal and leak our data" and you go ahead and do it, it's still wrong (the main exception I can think of is ethical whistleblowing). Again, bragging you have access after being terminated is bad regardless of whether you exploited the access. To me these are the sort of details that could prevent you from passing a security clearance process, al…

> The magnitude of the secret does not matter: if your company says "don't steal and leak our data" and you go ahead and do it, it's still wrong

I don't share your reverence for corporate secrets. To you, the exceptions are the secrets it is ok to share. To me, the exceptions are the secrets it is ok for corporations to keep. And corporations have certainly not earned the benefit of the doubt that I would assume, despite their willful silence, that these were legitimate.

Re: DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

#18

Post by dekhn »

like_any_other wrote: post #17
dekhn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The magnitude of the secret does not matter: if your company says "don't steal and leak our data" and you go ahead and do it, it's still wrong (the main exception I can think of is ethical whistleblowing). Again, bragging you have access after being terminated is bad regardless of whether you exploited the access. To me these are the sort of details that could prevent you from passing a security clearance process, al…

> The magnitude of the secret does not matter: if your company says "don't steal and leak our data" and you go ahead and do it, it's still wrong I don't share your reverence for corporate secrets. To you, the exceptions are the secrets it is ok to share. To me, the exceptions are the secrets it is ok for corporations to keep. And corporations have certainly not earned the benefit of the doubt that I would assume, des…

you're entitled to your opinion, but it is not one shared by the normal parts of the government (which supports corporate IP). I think you have a larger issue that is independent of whether this individual is qualified for the role they most recently occupied.

Re: DOGE member previously fired by cybersecurity firm for leaking company secrets

#20

Post by inverted_flag »

thomasdziedzic wrote: post #19

"He will be brought back. To err is human, to forgive divine." https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1887957783783391423

That was for the doge member who made a bunch of racist tweets, not to be confused with the other doge member who made a bunch of racist tweets or the doge member in the OP.
Post reply on HN