Hacks of 2 federal agencies in a month have spilled a bonanza of sensitive data
It has been a bad month for federal government cybersecurity.
It has been a bad month for federal government cybersecurity.
The short version
- The Pentagon is informing more than 2 million current and former military members that their personnel records storing sensitive personal information were stolen over a monthslong compromise of one of its networks.
- The breach is the second one in recent months to expose sensitive government information.
- The incident is the second time a major network breach in recent months has exposed sensitive US government personnel records that criminal groups or foreign adversaries could use.
What happened
Last month, the ransomware group ShinyHunters claimed it hacked into FBI systems and stole records of thousands of the agency’s current or former employees. Reuters reported the job titles in the records included ones related to investigating China or Russia.
Why it matters
ShinyHunters said that it has no plans to release the information, but the promises of a criminal organization that has hacked and extorted hundreds of organizations mean very little.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.