Personal data of nearly 3 million current and former military personnel and employees of the US Department of Defense were affected in unauthorized access to a Pentagon information system, ABC News reported, citing a department representative, News.bg reports.
The data of about 2.76 million living individuals and 294,000 deceased individuals was affected. The compromised information included Social Security numbers and job titles, raising concerns about potential security risks.
According to the Department of Defense, the unauthorized access occurred between October 2025 and July 2026 and was carried out by a small number of unauthorized users. The vulnerability has been fixed since the issue was discovered.
The affected system is part of the Defense Personnel Data Center (DMDC), one of the Pentagon's primary repositories for military and civilian personnel information. It stores data on active and reserve military personnel, civilians, contractors, veterans, retired military personnel, and their family members. The system contains over 60 million records.
The US military said that so far there is no evidence of misuse of the compromised data. The affected individuals are being provided with resources to protect their identities and monitor their credit activity.
The case comes against the backdrop of another breach involving US federal employees. On September 24, the hacking group ShinyHunters said that it had gained access to a large amount of information on FBI employees.
The group subsequently announced that it would not publish the stolen data, rejecting claims that its actions were motivated by a ransom demand.
The FBI has meanwhile notified the affected employees. The bureau clarified that the FBIJobs.gov system did not contain classified information, and warned employees to be careful of suspicious calls and other attempts to contact them.