Hackers stole millions of military records during months-long Pentagon data breach
The U.S. government is notifying current and former service members that their personal information was stolen in a breach of the Pentagon's personnel records system between October 2025 and mid-July 2026.
Scope of the stolen data
A notification from the Defense Manpower Data Center states that unauthorized users accessed an unspecified file-sharing system over several months. The compromised records included Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, and details about military service for approximately 2.8 million living individuals. Officials also confirmed that close to 300,000 deceased persons were affected by this security incident.
Nature of the system breach
The stolen personnel files were stored without encryption, which allowed attackers to extract sensitive information easily. This unit serves as a primary identity management provider for the Department of Defense and maintains over 60 million records. The attack represents the latest in a series of federal data thefts involving government workers recently.
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