#washington-post — Public Fediverse posts

Among the latest data-breach villains: the Washington Post

Members of the Washington Post’s extended diaspora, meaning both former employees as well as past freelancers, have begun getting an unwelcome reminder of that chapter in their professional lives: a letter from the Post, sent from an address not in the District but in West Sacramento, Calif., informing them of a “Data Security Incident.”

That inefficient phrase is defensive legalese for “data breach,” which the letter says, in comparably defensive passive voice, happened between July 10 and Aug. 22, 2025, when “certain data was accessed and acquired without authorization” from unspecified Oracle E-Business Suite applications.

In my case and others, to judge from reports from fellow recipients of this joyless notice, the “certain data” included names and Social Security numbers.

The letter may not spark any more joy at Oracle, since it describes the vulnerability exploited as a “previously unknown and widespread” flaw. Oracle’s own warning red-flags it as “remotely exploitable without authentication.” But the paper’s disclosure does not address another cause of the data breach: how the Post chose to retain this sort of sensitive data long after it should have stopped being regularly business-relevant.

Consider my example: The last time I had any ongoing transactions with the Post that should have involved my SSN was 15 years ago. I rolled over my 401(K) after leaving the paper, and Jeff Bezos buying the Post in 2013 resulted in the company transferring my pension and those of other ex-Posties to former publisher Don Graham’s firm Graham Holdings.

For the handful of freelance pieces I’ve sold to my old shop since then (such as the Jan. 28, 2019 opinion piece headlined “Big tech firms still don’t care about your privacy”), I’ve used the Employer Identification Number I obtained shortly after I started freelancing.

Yet apparently my SSN was still sitting unencrypted in a network-accessible database last summer, contrary to basic security advice, along with the digits of thousands of other current and former Post employees and contractors. Some had banking details compromised too.

That’s “thousands” as in 9,720 people, per a filing the Post made with Maine’s Attorney General in November that a few security publications covered at the time. A month later, a former Post employee named Jun Hee Kim filed a class-action lawsuit against the Post on behalf of those nearly 10,000 individuals.

I have yet to get a notice inviting me to join that class, and the Post’s letter does not mention the litigation. Instead, it offers the usual paltry remedy of a year of identity-theft monitoring, in this case from a firm called IDX.

I know that’s the standard act of apology not only from covering data breaches but from having my data exposed in them, over and over. I know the drill well enough to have turned “Equifax” into the verb “Equifaxed” and to have frozen my credit more than once.

So at some level, I’m not surprised at the news of the Post’s data breach so much as I’m surprised that it took this long. Throughout my time working at 15th and L, I saw the Post treat SSNs as carelessly as anybody else did decades ago–even using them as employee IDs, as seen in some of my own admin paperwork from early in this century showing the full nine digits. But it’s still stupid and sloppy that this particular data breach happened not in 2005 or 2015 but in 2025, well past the point when management at the Post should have known better.

Among the latest data-breach villains: the Washington Post

Members of the Washington Post’s extended diaspora, meaning both former employees as well as past freelancers, have begun getting an unwelcome reminder of that chapter in their professional lives: a letter from the Post, sent from an address not in the District but in West Sacramento, Calif., informing them of a “Data Security Incident.”

That inefficient phrase is defensive legalese for “data breach,” which the letter says, in comparably defensive passive voice, happened between July 10 and Aug. 22, 2025, when “certain data was accessed and acquired without authorization” from unspecified Oracle E-Business Suite applications.

In my case and others, to judge from reports from fellow recipients of this joyless notice, the “certain data” included names and Social Security numbers.

The letter may not spark any more joy at Oracle, since it describes the vulnerability exploited as a “previously unknown and widespread” flaw. Oracle’s own warning red-flags it as “remotely exploitable without authentication.” But the paper’s disclosure does not address another cause of the data breach: how the Post chose to retain this sort of sensitive data long after it should have stopped being regularly business-relevant.

Consider my example: The last time I had any ongoing transactions with the Post that should have involved my SSN was 15 years ago. I rolled over my 401(K) after leaving the paper, and Jeff Bezos buying the Post in 2013 resulted in the company transferring my pension and those of other ex-Posties to former publisher Don Graham’s firm Graham Holdings.

For the handful of freelance pieces I’ve sold to my old shop since then (such as the Jan. 28, 2019 opinion piece headlined “Big tech firms still don’t care about your privacy”), I’ve used the Employer Identification Number I obtained shortly after I started freelancing.

Yet apparently my SSN was still sitting unencrypted in a network-accessible database last summer, contrary to basic security advice, along with the digits of thousands of other current and former Post employees and contractors. Some had banking details compromised too.

That’s “thousands” as in 9,720 people, per a filing the Post made with Maine’s Attorney General in November that a few security publications covered at the time. A month later, a former Post employee named Jun Hee Kim filed a class-action lawsuit against the Post on behalf of those nearly 10,000 individuals.

I have yet to get a notice inviting me to join that class, and the Post’s letter does not mention the litigation. Instead, it offers the usual paltry remedy of a year of identity-theft monitoring, in this case from a firm called IDX.

I know that’s the standard act of apology not only from covering data breaches but from having my data exposed in them, over and over. I know the drill well enough to have turned “Equifax” into the verb “Equifaxed” and to have frozen my credit more than once.

So at some level, I’m not surprised at the news of the Post’s data breach so much as I’m surprised that it took this long. Throughout my time working at 15th and L, I saw the Post treat SSNs as carelessly as anybody else did decades ago–even using them as employee IDs, as seen in some of my own admin paperwork from early in this century showing the full nine digits. But it’s still stupid and sloppy that this particular data breach happened not in 2005 or 2015 but in 2025, well past the point when management at the Post should have known better.

RE: https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/116913209664274080

Archived link of #WashingtonPost artcle on #trump crime family corruption:

https://archive.ph/REi2I

RE: https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/116913209664274080

Archived link of #WashingtonPost artcle on #trump crime family corruption:

https://archive.ph/REi2I

@EINS_Institute

The Post didn't explicitly state the one important fact of the story: they haven't seen McConnell alive either. They are literally just passing on, unconfirmed, what they were told by McConnell's office.

#McConnell #WashingtonPost

@EINS_Institute

The Post didn't explicitly state the one important fact of the story: they haven't seen McConnell alive either. They are literally just passing on, unconfirmed, what they were told by McConnell's office.

#McConnell #WashingtonPost

Summary Judgement Smack Down!

A federal judge in Florida punts Trump Media’s $3.8B defamation suit against The Washington Post.

Plaintive “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that The Post “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.” https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/07/media/trump-media-washington-post-defamation-lawsuit-dismissed #TrumpMedia #Lawsuit #Defamation #SummaryJudgement #SmackDown #Fail #FirstAmendment #Constitution #WAPO #WashingtonPost #Journalism #Trust

Summary Judgement Smack Down!

A federal judge in Florida punts Trump Media’s $3.8B defamation suit against The Washington Post.

Plaintive “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that The Post “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.” https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/07/media/trump-media-washington-post-defamation-lawsuit-dismissed #TrumpMedia #Lawsuit #Defamation #SummaryJudgement #SmackDown #Fail #FirstAmendment #Constitution #WAPO #WashingtonPost #Journalism #Trust

US judge throws out Trump’s $3.8bn defamation lawsuit against Washington Post https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/08/trump-washington-post-defamation-lawsuit #WashingtonPost #DonaldTrump #UsNews #UsPolitics #DigitalMedia #Newspapers #Media #UsPressAndPublishing

US judge throws out Trump’s $3.8bn defamation lawsuit against Washington Post https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/08/trump-washington-post-defamation-lawsuit #WashingtonPost #DonaldTrump #UsNews #UsPolitics #DigitalMedia #Newspapers #Media #UsPressAndPublishing

RE: https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/116873607853314520

This is fascism.

Archived #WashingtonPost article
https://archive.ph/33DCl

WH "report":
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Smithsonian-Report-Saving-Americas-Story.pdf

#CurrentMood #ThisIsFascism #Smithsonian #WhiteHouse #fascism #history

RE: https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/116873607853314520

This is fascism.

Archived #WashingtonPost article
https://archive.ph/33DCl

WH "report":
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Smithsonian-Report-Saving-Americas-Story.pdf

#CurrentMood #ThisIsFascism #Smithsonian #WhiteHouse #fascism #history

RE: https://mstdn.science/@ChemicalEyeGuy/110742942087749493

Double-down whoa!

#Stanford University’s ‘Dr. Death’ is *back* in the #news. #DonaldTheDeplorable Trump’s favorite medical moron from #AmericanCarnage 1.0 is now calling for the abolishment of the #NIH. Here’s his Op-Ed published in the #billionaire owned and #Trump friendly #WashingtonPost. 👉 https://dnyuz.com/2026/07/02/abolish-the-nih/

#Resist intelligently. #DoNotComply and #DoNotCollaborateWithFascists in #USpol.

RE: https://mstdn.science/@ChemicalEyeGuy/110742942087749493

Double-down whoa!

#Stanford University’s ‘Dr. Death’ is *back* in the #news. #DonaldTheDeplorable Trump’s favorite medical moron from #AmericanCarnage 1.0 is now calling for the abolishment of the #NIH. Here’s his Op-Ed published in the #billionaire owned and #Trump friendly #WashingtonPost. 👉 https://dnyuz.com/2026/07/02/abolish-the-nih/

#Resist intelligently. #DoNotComply and #DoNotCollaborateWithFascists in #USpol.

RE: https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/116841766348001028

#WashingtonPost running propaganda for Trump even in this reporting with “earned”.

Sure, Jan.

RE: https://masto.ai/@Nonilex/116841766348001028

#WashingtonPost running propaganda for Trump even in this reporting with “earned”.

Sure, Jan.

Turnout is RISING in Democratic primaries even when they AREN'T ’t hotly contested and the nominee has LITTLE chance of winning in the general election, according to a #WashingtonPost review of 990 races, over three cycles, in 25 states."
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Democratic turnout is up, even...

Turnout is RISING in Democratic primaries even when they AREN'T ’t hotly contested and the nominee has LITTLE chance of winning in the general election, according to a #WashingtonPost review of 990 races, over three cycles, in 25 states."
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Democratic turnout is up, even...

The #WashingtonPost was fighting the demand in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia in sealed proceedings when the government rescinded Nakashima’s subpoena…. The #DOJ also withdrew the #WSJ subpoenas, which the news organization had challenged in the same federal court…. None of the journalists testified before the grand jury, the official said.

#law #FreePress #journalism #democracy #Trump

The #WashingtonPost was fighting the demand in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia in sealed proceedings when the government rescinded Nakashima’s subpoena…. The #DOJ also withdrew the #WSJ subpoenas, which the news organization had challenged in the same federal court…. None of the journalists testified before the grand jury, the official said.

#law #FreePress #journalism #democracy #Trump

The grand jury subpoena to #WashingtonPost reporter Ellen Nakashima this spring was related to sensitive reporting about a #NationalSecurity matter, the person said. The #DOJ also issued subpoenas to appear before a grand jury to three #WSJ journalists, who also reported on national security issues.

#law #FreePress #journalism #democracy #Trump

The grand jury subpoena to #WashingtonPost reporter Ellen Nakashima this spring was related to sensitive reporting about a #NationalSecurity matter, the person said. The #DOJ also issued subpoenas to appear before a grand jury to three #WSJ journalists, who also reported on national security issues.

#law #FreePress #journalism #democracy #Trump

#Trump #DOJ issued, then withdrew subpoenas to force #WashingtonPost, #WSJ #reporters to testify

Subpoenas for reporters to appear before a grand jury are exceedingly rare. The #journalists have not testified.

The Justice Department took the extraordinary step of seeking to force reporters for The Washington Post & the Wall Street Journal to testify before a federal grand jury — but withdrew the subpoenas after they were challenged by the news organizations….

#law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/06/23/doj-issued-then-withdrew-subpoenas-force-post-wsj-reporters-testify/

#Trump #DOJ issued, then withdrew subpoenas to force #WashingtonPost, #WSJ #reporters to testify

Subpoenas for reporters to appear before a grand jury are exceedingly rare. The #journalists have not testified.

The Justice Department took the extraordinary step of seeking to force reporters for The Washington Post & the Wall Street Journal to testify before a federal grand jury — but withdrew the subpoenas after they were challenged by the news organizations….

#law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/06/23/doj-issued-then-withdrew-subpoenas-force-post-wsj-reporters-testify/

In October 2024 the Israeli army did a thing. It invited #journalists from major Western corporate media outlets on an incursion into Lebanon’s ravaged south, accompanied by Israeli military. Reporters from the #NewYorkTimes, #WashingtonPost, #AssociatedPress, #Reuters, #BBC, #FoxNews and a handful of other special guests signed up.

...The #media’s acceptance and deployment of such arbitrary vocabulary creates “artificial structures” and a sense of orderliness, when in reality “there’s no yellow lines, there’s no yellow, there’s no colors—these are just illegal invasions.” And because media are committed to sanitizing Israel’s behavior rather than questioning it, “colonization becomes normalized.”

...A June 4 Reuters writeup blamed #Hezbollah for having “rejected” the latest US-mediated “#ceasefire” plan—which, mind you, would basically have given #Israel the green light to seize south #Lebanon outright.

While invoking Hezbollah’s support by Iran is practically a requirement for Western media reports, it is never deemed necessary to qualify Israel’s own orientation in any way—like, I dunno, “The war that never ended: Genocidal psychostate backed to the hilt by global superpower seizes moment to finish fight against Hezbollah.”

https://fair.org/home/western-media-normalize-ethnic-cleansing-of-lebanon-by-viewing-it-through-israels-eyes/
#mediacomplicity #imperialism

In October 2024 the Israeli army did a thing. It invited #journalists from major Western corporate media outlets on an incursion into Lebanon’s ravaged south, accompanied by Israeli military. Reporters from the #NewYorkTimes, #WashingtonPost, #AssociatedPress, #Reuters, #BBC, #FoxNews and a handful of other special guests signed up.

...The #media’s acceptance and deployment of such arbitrary vocabulary creates “artificial structures” and a sense of orderliness, when in reality “there’s no yellow lines, there’s no yellow, there’s no colors—these are just illegal invasions.” And because media are committed to sanitizing Israel’s behavior rather than questioning it, “colonization becomes normalized.”

...A June 4 Reuters writeup blamed #Hezbollah for having “rejected” the latest US-mediated “#ceasefire” plan—which, mind you, would basically have given #Israel the green light to seize south #Lebanon outright.

While invoking Hezbollah’s support by Iran is practically a requirement for Western media reports, it is never deemed necessary to qualify Israel’s own orientation in any way—like, I dunno, “The war that never ended: Genocidal psychostate backed to the hilt by global superpower seizes moment to finish fight against Hezbollah.”

https://fair.org/home/western-media-normalize-ethnic-cleansing-of-lebanon-by-viewing-it-through-israels-eyes/
#mediacomplicity #imperialism

https://www.alojapan.com/1500108/washington-post-journalist-aids-with-unl-research-labs-news/ Washington Post journalist aids with UNL research labs | News #India #KaziAlbabHussain #Nebraska #news #ObesityResearchCoreLab #Osaka #OsakaNews #ShannonOsaka #UniversityOfNebraskaLincoln #Unl’sCollegeOfEngineering #WashingtonPost #大阪 #大阪府 Plastic is everywhere in modern society, from containers and water bottles to clothes. However, a research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is discovering that the convenience of plastic com

https://www.fogolf.com/1288579/donald-trump-examined-by-record-22-medical-specialists-at-walter-reed/ Donald Trump examined by record 22 medical specialists at Walter Reed #Donald #DonaldTrump #DonaldTrumpGolf #DonaldTrumpGolfing #health #president #trump #TrumpGolf #TrumpGolfing #WashingtonPost #WhiteHouse

https://www.fogolf.com/1288579/donald-trump-examined-by-record-22-medical-specialists-at-walter-reed/ Donald Trump examined by record 22 medical specialists at Walter Reed #Donald #DonaldTrump #DonaldTrumpGolf #DonaldTrumpGolfing #health #president #trump #TrumpGolf #TrumpGolfing #WashingtonPost #WhiteHouse

> Even before the announcement, most of the Pentagon had been off-limits to the media for the majority of the second Trump administration, amid ongoing litigation over other restrictions the agency has imposed on reporters covering the U.S. military.

In October, dozens of reporters refused to sign an agreement placing limits on how they could gather and publish certain information. They were subsequently denied credentials.

-- Jennifer H. Svan, STARS AND STRIPES, June 2, 2026

#substack #usmiitary #thePentagon
#petehegseth #kegsbreath
#joelvaldez #DOD #pressfreedom #departmentofwar #firstamendmentrights
#starsandstripesmagazine
#washingtonpost

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2026-06-02/pentagon-bars-journalists-press-office-21850733.html