Hello, Friends.

This is not what I want to be writing about, but I feel compelled to share some thoughts about current events in the hopes of helping others navigate this storm.

Here’s what is known: Multiple federal government systems have been compromised by a group that I’ll refer to here as the Tech Bros. They have access to the personal data of millions of American citizens via these systems, and it’s been reported that they are downloading data to unsecure repositories for purposes yet to be determined.

I’m writing this post today because it is highly likely that these Tech Bros have my data and your data. If you have ever had any kind of interaction with the federal government, assume they have your data. In particular, we know they have the data of every federal employee and retiree and their dependents, as well as anyone who has received a payment of any kind from the US Treasury. This would include Social Security, Medicare, VA benefits, and federal student financial aid.

What do they know about me (and you)? They have our social security numbers; email addresses; bank account numbers, if we receive direct deposits; and the passwords we’ve used to access federal government systems. They know our addresses and phone numbers. They know the structure of our families, because in many cases we’ve had to tell the federal government who our dependents are in order for them to receive benefits. For some of us, they may know our personal health history. If it’s required on any sort of application for federal benefits, I assume they now know it.

Reports in the media have been focused on how this Tech Bro Coup may impact funding for various big projects or institutions. But what’s on my mind right now is how this data might be used to scam or steal from regular citizens like me and you. Since these Tech Bros obviously don’t care about legality or standards or norms, I’m making the assumption that our data is or will soon be for sale to criminals, same as how it goes when hackers get into the customer database of any company.

With that in mind, here’s what I’m thinking about this morning:

Moving money out of the bank account where federal direct deposits go, in case that account is compromised.Freezing my credit at the three credit bureaus—Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax—so that no one can open a fraudulent account using my social security number.Reviewing my passwords for federal websites to see if I’m using those same passwords at other non-government sites, and changing them at those other sites.

Here’s my reasoning on each of these points.

First, assuming the Tech Bros now have my bank account number, I want to move my money to someplace they don’t know about. I’ll leave the account open for now because I do want to continue to receive those federal direct deposits, but I’ll also continue to move money out of that account on a regular basis. In other words, I plan to not leave money sitting in that account where it might be vulnerable. I won’t give the federal government a new account for direct deposits because government systems are compromised and I don’t want to give the Tech Bros any new information they don’t already have.

Second, my understanding is that freezing my credit at the three credit bureaus makes it much less likely that a criminal will be able to impersonate me by opening a new account using my social security number along with all the other identifying information they have on me which was stolen from the federal government systems. It’s a hassle, because if I want to open a new account myself, I’ll need to unfreeze my credit first, but it’s protection that should be considered.

Third, when criminals learn one of your passwords, they often try to use that password to access other systems or websites because they know that many people use the same password at lots of places. So if you’re using the same password on a federal government site and on any other site, change the password on that the other site. Why not change it on the federal government site, you may ask. Because, again, the federal government sites are currently under the control of the Tech Bros, so any information you enter there will go to them. Don’t give them yet another one of your passwords! For now, it’s not going to do any good to change your sign in information on the federal government sites.

The three items above are things we can all do now to try to limit any forthcoming damage from the ongoing Tech Bro Coup. But there are other things on my mind, too. No one knows where all this will lead or how bad it might get. It’s possible that all those payments I listed above—Social Security, VA benefits, student financial aid, even Medicare payments—may be cut off. Not because of any law being passed, but because the Tech Bros have been given access that allows them to reprogram federal government systems if they so choose. So, I’m thinking about how my family will potentially cope if money we were expecting from the federal government suddenly stops coming. I hope for all our sakes this does not happen. But I think we’d be wise to start preparing for the possibility. We are living through something that has never before happened in this country. It would be naïve to believe it won’t get worse.

In closing, here are some outlets outside of mainstream media I’ve found useful for keeping up with our rapidly changing federal government situation:

Wired (good for the tech aspect of all this)Talking Points MemoPopular InformationPaul Krugman (economist)Rolling Stone (link to their politics page)

I also recommend following Alt National Park Service (a coalition of federal government employees) on social media for real time updates and Indivisible for calls to action.

I’ll note here that, yes, I’m aware that there are many other terrible things going on in our federal government right now that may have devastating, far reaching, long lasting effects on numerous vulnerable communities. My not mentioning them here in this post does not mean I’m unaware of or that I don’t care about those actions or communities.

I welcome your thoughts and constructive ideas in the comments. Let’s get through this together.