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jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy
he/his ex #USDS (fired by DOGE) I work primarily in #infosec, #IT, and #SaaS infrastructure. Prior to USDS, I was a #tech #startup #CISO. Dad, old-school hacker […] [bridged from https://federate.social/@jik on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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Feb. 26 live CNN interview about VA.gov cybersecurity I did a brief press appearance on CNN this afternoon to talk about my firing from the VA and what that means for VA.gov cybersecurity. Here's the video, with a transcript below it. Transcript Anchor: A warning from a fired cybersecurity […]

submitted 21 hours ago • 2 comments

I want to share this heartfelt story about something important I helped build during my time at VA, before DOGE destroyed it. We'll probably never know whether they did so out of willful ignorance or stupidity. Either way, they hurt veterans, and that makes me sad […]

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

My dad via text in a group chat with my mom and me: I hope all this hype you're generating in the media helps you find a new job! Me: I'm not doing it to help me get a new job, Dad, I'm doing it to prevent fascists from taking over the country. My mom, on a phone call five minutes later: Do you […]

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Two lessons learned from my short live hit on CNN: 1) Sunlight will come streaming in your windows at the least opportune time. 2) There is no time in life during which the urge to touch your face is stronger than when you are on live national TV.

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

Hey folks! I'm supposedly going to be interviewed live on CNN today between 2:30pm and 4:00pm US/Eastern. If you have the ability to record it and make the recording available to me afterward, I'd appreciate it. Please DM me when you have the recording in hand and we'll figure out how to […]

submitted 1 day ago • 3 comments

A group of 21 dedicated public servants who belonged to the U.S. Digital Service before it was forcefully converted into DOGE resigned en masse today rather than remain complicit in the what DOGE is doing to the federal government. In other news, I have been all over the news media in the past […]

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

#PSA for those of you who have been (or will be) fired from the federal government or some other job: If you have kids in college whom you're paying tuition for, contact the financial aid office and ask if there is anything they can do to reduce your financial burden for the current semester […]

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

A colleague shared this video with my privately and suggested I might wish to share it out further. Indeed I do. If you have any doubt about how bad things are in the U.S. or about how close to the precipice we are, please watch this video. The time for "just wait and see" is over. At this […]

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

Can someone please tell the #SocialSecurityAdministration that the call is coming from inside the house? #politics #USPol #SSA #DOGE #coup #resist

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

People keep asking me if I'm afraid that by speaking out against the government I'm drawing a target on my back. By asking this question they prove they believe the government is likely to go after its perceived enemies. They also prove they're OK with others taking the risk while they remain […]

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

My son's Jewish day school sent out email today comparing "the mass graves and ash-laden fields of Poland" from the Shoah to what Israel has recently endured and claiming "the horrors of Jewish history seem to have returned." This was the last straw from me: I unsubscribed from the mailing list […]

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

Astoundingly good “WIRED” article about my being firing from VA and what it means Author Lily Hay Newman does an incredible job capturing the high stakes of compromising the security of VA.gov […]

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

A note to my new followers… Most of you have joined me here because of my work resisting DOGE. I appreciate and welcome you, but you should know that's not the only thing I post about. See, for example, my recent post about a silly little hack I just built to make my family's online life a […]

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Hack of the day: CGI script for temporary download bandwidth throttling I wrote a self-service way for my family to tell my computer to stop hogging all the download bandwidth so they can do their online meetings or gaming […]

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

By the time they're talking to you to record the soundbite, they already know what they want you to say, they just need to get you on camera saying it. There are some amusing aspects to how this played out in this case […]

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

#tfw you get an urgent notice in the morning from the Department of Unemployment Assistance, telling you there's correspondence in the online portal that you urgently need to reply to, and you spend literally all day until 11pm dealing with other urgent stuff, and then when you finally get […]

submitted 7 days ago • 1 comment

I appeared tonight on the #NBCNightlyNews in a segment by Peter Alexander. I recommend the whole segment (only 3 minutes), or you can fast forward to 1:10 to see my 26 seconds. I'm not going to hide, not going to back down, not going to run. What's happening inside the federal government is […]

submitted 7 days ago • 3 comments

Here's why veterans should be worried about the privacy and security of their VA data. In the fediverse you can follow @fedsagainstdoge.bsky.social . Please get involved! * contact your congresspeople daily * hit the streets * support Federal Workers Against DOGE! The only way we stop this is […]

submitted 8 days ago • 3 comments

A US judge is absolutely roasting the US government today. Here’s the text and a photo of them.

submitted 8 days ago • 4 comments

The Boston Herald just reported (https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/02/18/boston-man-who-oversaw-va-information-security-swept-up-in-doge-cuts-veteran-privacy-at-risk/) on my firing from USDS from my position overseeing information security for VA.gov. It's a very good article! Kudos to Herald […]

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

Hey @internetarchive the Waybak Machine appears to be down? I'm getting this on every URL I try to search.

submitted 10 days ago • 1 comment

I got a LinkedIn connection request from the president of a company that "protects judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers - and their families - by helping them safeguard sensitive personal information and defend against online and offline threats. Proud to be working with the New […]

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

If you know of or are involved with an organization that helps people in a way that the #TrumpAdministration doesn't approve of, and the org is worried about continuing to do their work while protecting their employees, volunteers, and clients, I am happy to meet for free with the org to work […]

submitted 11 days ago • 2 comments

My post here about getting fired from USDS went viral, but my post on LinkedIn about it (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7296541591333203969/) went REALLY viral. It was the top post linked to the top article in the Top News section on the LI home page for about 12 hours […]

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

If you want to start understanding what #ElonMusk is trying to do to the federal government, I encourage you to read @davekarpf's most recent piece, linked below. Then subscribe to read more, because he is a brilliant and insightful historian who is calling it like it is on a way that few […]

submitted 11 days ago • 2 comments

Thanks to @zackwhittaker for the implicit shout-out in today's "This Week In Security": "There are more and ongoing layoffs across government, including infosec folks at the U.S. Digital Service…". I was the only infosec person impacted by the recent USDS firings. 😉 #politics #USPol #DOGE […]

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

1. Fire a ton of government workers and shut down a bunch of agencies. 2. Smart people: Good Lord, are you insane, do you have any idea how bad this is going to make things? Dumb people: The government was too big! Make America Great Again! 3. Bad stuff happens. 4. Smart people: See, didn't […]

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

There's a massive disconnect between people on #LinkedIn who use it as a career networking site and people who think it's social media. Have you been around along enough to remember when LinkedIn used to tell people to only connect with people you trust? I have, and that's still how I operate […]

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment