The U.S. government is alerting millions of current and former military service members and staff about a data breach that compromised their personal information. The breach, which occurred over several months, is the latest in a series of thefts involving federal workers' data, as reported by TechCrunch.
The Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) reported that an unspecified file-sharing system was exploited between October 2025 and mid-July 2026. The vulnerability led to the exposure of personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, sex, race, and military service details. The records were unencrypted. A Pentagon official stated that approximately 2.8 million living individuals and nearly 300,000 deceased individuals are affected.
This incident follows a recent breach at the FBI, attributed to the ShinyHunters hacking group, which exposed personal data of agents and staff. These events echo the 2015 Office of Personnel Management breach, where China was implicated in stealing records of over 22 million U.S. government employees. The Department of Defense said it has no indication of data misuse and the identities of the hackers remain unknown.
Source: TechCrunch
