The SSA stores a lot of sensitive data. Normally with sensitive data you want to be very careful with who can access it and how.

What is potentially worrisome in this situation is it seems like the SSA is taking on the “move fast and break things” attitude of Silicon Valley.

More technically, most government agencies use AWS and Azure (cloud providers) to host data. So spinning up a new server isn’t inherently bad. However, creating a new server that is secure and has the correct access controls (user permissions regarding who can see/change content) can be challenging. The whistle blower believes they are not doing this right, and it sounds like the head of the SSA isn’t disagreeing, just saying he thinks the risk is worth it.

Given it’s the government it’s most likely AWS or Azure. That really isn’t inherently bad, it’s more the attitude of “move fast and break things” doesn’t necessarily work for secure systems with sensitive data.

If you read the article, the current head of the SSA acknowledges they did set up the system being discussed and that he’s accepted the increased risk of the implementation as there is a “business need”.

I agree that “random server” is a bad choice of words, but do want to add additional information context as the concern isn’t necessarily unwarranted. Another qoute from the article:

“I have determined the business need is higher than the security risk associated with this implementation and I accept all risks,” wrote Aram Moghaddassi, who worked at two of Mr. Musk’s companies, X and Neuralink, before becoming Social Security’s chief information officer, in a July 15 memo.

Its also sounds like they did spin up a new database with limited security/oversight to “move” faster. Why that’s worrisome is they aren’t denying there is a risk or lack of security, they are just saying it’s justified.

Yeah, I made a separate comment, but AudioBookshelf can play nicely with ebooks and comics. It’s not super smooth, but provides the most features in a self hosted solution from what I’ve tried.

I just use AudioBookshelf for books. It’s a little annoying, but basically just requires an extra nested folder structure.

The best part is offline reading seems to resync back to the server, so you can download books for local reading or read through an internet connection.