Pentagon Suffers Potential Breach at US Defense Agency

The affected agency’s core mission is to ‘connect and protect’ US military members’ communications while also supplying information to the White House.

By Michael Kan

A federal government agency charged with securing US military communications may have been breached.

The potential breach occurred at the Defense Information Systems Agency, which facilitates US Defense Department operations across the globe. On Thursday, Reuters reported the agency sent letters, dated Feb. 11, to affected US personnel about the possible “compromise.”

“During the May to July 2019 timeframe, some of your personal information, including your Social Security number, may have been compromised in a data breach on a system hosted by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA),” reads the letter, which has also been posted on social media.

“While there is no evidence to suggest that your PII (Personally Identifiable Information) was misused, DISA policy requires the agency to notify individuals whose personal data may have been compromised,” the letter adds.

The potential compromise of personal data may be the least of the Pentagon’s worries. DISA’s core mission is to “connect and protect” US military members’ communications while also supplying information to the White House, according to the agency’s website.

In addition, DISA helps maintain the US military’s communication infrastructure across 3,500 sites in 26 countries, including underwater, satellite, and mobile networks. In total, the agency employs more than 8,700 people.

For now, the Pentagon has remained mum on the exact scale of the possible breach. A Defense Department spokesperson tells PCMag that “DISA has conducted a thorough investigation of this incident and taken appropriate measures to secure the network.”

The potential breach occurs as the US has been trying to secure the country’s networks from state-sponsored hackers, particularly those from China and Russia. Earlier this month, the Justice Department blamed Chinese military officers for the 2017 Equifax hack, which looted personal data on 145 million Americans.

Originally published at https://www.pcmag.com.