The Social Security Administration (SSA) is facing intense scrutiny after a whistleblower revealed that the personal records of more than 300 million Americans may have been exposed. Charles Borges, the agency’s chief data officer, filed a complaint on August 26 alleging that a copy of the SSA’s database was placed on a cloud server lacking proper oversight or safeguards.
The compromised dataset reportedly contains Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and even citizenship status, raising alarm over potential misuse. Borges described what he saw as a “disturbing pattern of questionable and risky security access and administrative misconduct,” and claimed no remedial steps have been taken despite his warnings.
The controversy has been amplified by the role of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was embedded in multiple federal agencies under the Trump administration. Although labor and advocacy groups attempted to block DOGE’s access, the Supreme Court cleared the way in June, citing its stated mission to root out fraud and modernize outdated systems.
Data protection and privacy are increasingly uneven across the globe, and the SSA case underscores how even the most sensitive government databases can be vulnerable. Europe leads the way when it comes to regulation and enforcement, but many nations are still lagging behind.
In this gallery, we look at the nations taking the handling of personal data seriously and those still lacking strong laws and regulations. Click on to get to know them