Pentagon Data Breach Exposes Records of 2.8 Million Current and Former Military Personnel

The Pentagon has notified more than 2 million current and former military personnel that their records were stolen during a month-long breach of one of the U.S. government’s networks. The compromised records contain sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, names, addresses, gender, race, and occupation.

The Pentagon says the breach affected records belonging to 2.8 million living people. The incident is the second major breach in recent months involving sensitive U.S. government personnel information.

What information was exposed?

A notification letter posted on Reddit listed Social Security numbers, names, addresses, gender, race, and occupation among the exposed information.

The occupation data could be particularly valuable to foreign adversaries because it may help intelligence agencies identify high-value military personnel. Since October of last year, hackers have accessed the Defense Human Resources Data Center, which cross-checks Department of Defense personnel records.

Why the Pentagon breach matters

The Pentagon data breach follows another major incident involving sensitive U.S. government records. Last month, the ransomware group ShinyHunters claimed to have hacked FBI systems and stolen information on thousands of current and former employees.

Reuters reported that the FBI records included employee positions connected to investigations involving China and Russia.

ShinyHunters said it did not plan to release the information publicly. However, the group has previously hacked and extorted hundreds of organizations, making its promises difficult to rely on. The group’s cyber defenses may also be no match for national intelligence hackers.

FBI officials this week urged members of ShinyHunters to turn themselves in.