By Billy Webster

Last week, Tesla was hacked four times in as many days. There is a little-known annual hacking contest called Pwn2Own. It focuses on hacking automotive technologies and allows their researchers to target car operating systems, electric vehicles, chargers and infotainment systems. And it now seems that even the richest man on earth, recently coronated as Trump’s co-President, can’t figure out how to keep his cars safe. One of the various security teams was able to hack Tesla’s autopilot and gain access to the circuit board. Yes, that means they could effectively control the automobile’s function. 

So in recognition of that frightening fact, Trump has turned over the United States Treasury Payment System to Musk and his DOGE minions, many of whom avoided appropriate clearance procedures and FBI vetting before entering the Treasury system. I’m sure that got Trump a nice Nazi-salute from his pal for this gift. 

For those who aren’t familiar with how this works, the Treasury Department carries out payments submitted by departments and agencies across the federal government. In 2023, the system disbursed more than one trillion dollars and processed over one billion payments. Access to the system has historically been limited to a small staff of highly trained career treasury employees because the system includes sensitive personal information about millions of Americans who receive social security checks, tax refunds, Medicare benefits, payments to government contractors and other important government disbursements. It is a highly efficient system, though faulty or false inputs into the system can yield payments to people and companies that should not receive them. 

It is reported that Musk’s team has not yet been given operational capabilities in the payment system. But does anyone believe that Musk will not attempt to meddle in the most important payment system in the history of the world? Or that a Russian agent who might have infiltrated Musk’s poorly vetted team couldn’t create disastrous mischief.  And if Musk can’t protect the passenger in the back seat of a Tesla from external hacking, the harm that he might cause to millions of Americans is immeasurable. Musk could make the controversial Chinese efforts at harvesting personal information through vehicles like TikTok the equivalent of child’s play. 

In a week with more dystopian wreckage than one can process – pardoning 1,500 January 6 insurrection criminals, blocking essential federal funding in an unconstitutional executive order, blaming the tragic American Airlines crash on DEI hiring practices, attempting to end birthright citizenship in apparent violation of the 14th amendment… the list is almost endless – the hijacking of the Treasury Payment system has the potential to cause the greatest harm if not inconvenience to the greatest number of Americans. 

I shudder to think what the coming weeks will bring. 

Read more at: https://www.morningbrew.com/stories/2025/02/03/elon-musk-now-has-access-to-your-ssn

Billy Webster is an educator, entrepreneur, and civic leader. He has been appointed to various positions by two presidents – George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, serving in the Agency for International Development, The Department of Education, and the White House, among other postings. A resident of Spartanburg, Webster has served on numerous boards for organizations serving the Upstate.