Personal Information Exposed By Military in Two Seperate Breaches

Yes, it’s true, even the miliatry exposes the personal information of soldiers and other personal. Here are two recent examples of offshore data breaches that could result in identity theft.

US Department of Defense MP3 Data Breach

Imagine buying an MP3 player at the thrift store, only to find on the drive numerous files from the military containing sensitive information.

This is what happened to one New Zealand man. After purchasing the MP3 player, he plugged it into his computer and found over 60 files holding the personal data of American Soldiers, including social security numbers, employment information and other information that could be used against the US if in the wrong hands, including mission briefings.

Even though the information appears to be old, dating back to around 2005, some of the phone numbers are still in use and if the information got into the wrong hands, could be devastating to those involved. It is unknown how many records are at risk.

Chris Ogle, the 29-year-old who purchased the MP3 player, said he would be happy to turn it over to US officials when requested.

United States State Department – US Consulate

After purchasing a file cabinet at an auction in Jerusalem, one Israeli lady found hundreds of files stored inside, containing bank account information, social security numbers, and other sensitive information belonging to the United States Marine Corps and containing information on them as well as State Department employees stationed in Israel.

At first United States Officials denied that any file cabinets were sold in auction, but later they reneged and acknowledged the sale. The CIA is investigating this security failure, and it is unknown at this time exactly how many people’s personal information was included in this file cabinet.

Though it seems that in both cases the sensitive information landed in the hands of honest people it is unclear if anyone else had temporary hold of it. It is strongly advised for those informed that their private information was exposed to buy identity theft protection.