Pentagon data breach exposes records of over 3 million people
Hackers accessed the Defense Manpower Data Center’s database over nine months, exposing sensitive records of about 2.76 million living military and civilian personnel, plus nearly 300,000 deceased. The breach, which ran from October 2025 to July 2026, involved unencrypted personal details such as Social Security numbers and job information. Pentagon officials say there’s no sign the data has been misused, but identity protection is being offered.
- Breach lasted from October 2025 to July 2026
- About 3 million records, mostly living personnel, were exposed
- Files included unencrypted social security numbers and job details
- The vulnerability was in a file-sharing system
- Pentagon offering identity protection to victims
Sources covering this
How it unfolded
- SecurityWeek Pentagon Personnel Agency Data Breach Impacts 3 Million People
- Graham Cluley Pentagon personnel database breach exposes personal data of millions
- Tom's Hardware Pentagon gets pwned as breach exposes sensitive data on nearly three million military and civilian personnel
- TechCrunch Hackers stole millions of US military personnel records during months-long data breach
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