Pentagon Records Breach Exposes Data on 3.1 Million Military Personnel

The U.S. government is alerting millions of active and former military service members and staff that their personal data was stolen during a months-long cyber breach at the Pentagon, TechCrunch reported.

A breach notification issued by the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) and shared on Reddit indicates that unauthorized users exploited a security vulnerability in an unspecified file-sharing platform between October 2025 and mid-July 2026. The exposed records were unencrypted and included Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, sex, race, and military service histories.

According to reporting by CNN and Federal News Network cited by TechCrunch, a Pentagon official stated the incident affects approximately 2.8 million living individuals and nearly 300,000 deceased individuals. The U.S. armed forces counted roughly 1.3 million active-duty service members as of March.

The DMDC maintains over 60 million records for military personnel, civilian staff, and their families to calculate entitlements including healthcare and retirement benefits. The agency also serves as the Department of Defense's primary identity management provider, issuing credentials, smart cards, and passwords used to access military installations and internal computer systems.

The Department of Defense said it has found no indication that the stolen information has been misused, though officials did not clarify how that assessment was made. The identities of the hackers remain unknown.

The breach is the latest in a series of intrusions targeting federal personnel files, following a September breach at the FBI attributed to the hacking collective ShinyHunters. Both incidents follow historical precedents such as the 2015 Office of Personnel Management breach, which compromised the personal records of more than 22 million government workers.