Department of Defense Data Breach Exposes 30,000 Employees

On October 4th, Pentagon officials were alerted to a data breach that affected its personnel. Unauthorized hackers gained access to personal information and credit card numbers.

The data was accessed via a system that maintained travel records. That system was not operated by the Department itself but an unnamed third party contractor.

Spokesperson Lt. Col. Joseph Buccino downplayed the incident saying that only "a very small percentage of the total population" of employees were impacted.

The DoD is a massive organization, however. It's the nation's largest employer with 1.3 million enlisted men and women and another 742,000 civilian employees. The "small percentage" in this case equates to at least 30,000 Americans.

The exact number is not yet known. An anonymous source who spoke to the Associated Press said that the investigation is ongoing and the final figure could climb significantly.

It's also not yet known when the breach actually took place. While it was detected recently, it's possible that the intrusion took place months ago and went undetected.

The Department has not named the vendor that was victimized because its investigation is ongoing. Lt. Col. Buccino did note that the DoD "has taken steps to have the vendor cease performance under its contracts."

This incident underscores the difficulties faced by large, complex organizations and businesses when it comes to securing data. It's hard enough to ensure in-house systems are properly secured. When third-party service providers are utilized things become infinitely more complicated.

Every employee with an email inbox is a potential target for a phishing attack. That's doubly true for those who have any kind of connection to the government, who provide attackers with an indirect route to their ultimate target.
