The Pentagon is informing over 2 million current and former military members that their personnel records were stolen during a monthslong intrusion into one of its networks. The breach affected records belonging to 2.8 million living individuals, according to the Defense Department.
The compromised records, as described in a notification letter posted to Reddit, included Social Security numbers, names, addresses, sex, race, and occupational specialty. The occupational specialty data could be particularly valuable to foreign adversaries, as it might help intelligence agencies identify high-value military personnel.
Hackers gained access to a system operated by the Defense Manpower Data Center, which collates Department of Defense personnel records, beginning last October. The Pentagon said the breach exposed the records of 2.8 million living individuals.
This is the second time in recent months that a major network breach has exposed sensitive US government personnel records. Last month, the ransomware group ShinyHunters claimed it hacked into FBI systems and stole records of thousands of current or former agency employees. Reuters reported that the job titles in those records included ones related to investigating China or Russia.
The recurring breaches raise concerns about the security of sensitive federal personnel data and the potential for foreign adversaries or criminal groups to exploit the stolen information.