Hacks of 2 federal agencies in a month have spilled a bonanza of sensitive data
Summary
The Pentagon is warning over 2 million current and former military members that their personal records were stolen in a hack of a Defense Department system. This is the second recent U.S. government data breach involving sensitive employee information, raising concerns about potential misuse by criminal groups or foreign spies.Key Facts
- Hackers accessed the Defense Manpower Data Center starting in October and stole records of 2.8 million living individuals.
- The stolen information included Social Security numbers, names, addresses, sex, race, and military job details.
- Military job details are important because they can help foreign spies identify high-value targets.
- Last month, the ransomware group ShinyHunters claimed to have hacked FBI employee records, including jobs related to investigations of China and Russia.
- The FBI is urging hackers involved in these breaches to surrender, warning that they are being tracked.
- The recent breaches are among the biggest since the 2015 hack where China-linked hackers stole millions of U.S. government employee records.
- The Defense Manpower Data Center stores over 60 million personnel records from military, civilian, contractor, retiree, veteran employees, and family members.
- The Department of Defense has not revealed how the hackers broke in or if ransom was demanded and says nothing shows the stolen data has been misused so far.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.
