Pentagon database breach exposes sensitive information on millions

A breach of a Pentagon personnel database exposed sensitive information belonging to millions of current and former military and civilian personnel, including Social Security numbers and details about their jobs, according to a U.S. defence official, cited by ABC News.

The breach affected 2.76 million living people and another 294,000 deceased individuals, the official said. The breadth and sensitivity of the exposed information could raise national security concerns, particularly because the records included details about positions held by military and civilian personnel.

“A Defence Manpower Data Centre (DMDC) information system experienced unauthorised access of personally identifiable information by a small number of unauthorised users between October 2025 and July 2026. Upon discovery, DMDC immediately remediated the vulnerability,” the official said.

The Defence Manpower Data Centre is one of the Pentagon’s primary repositories for personnel records. It maintains information on active-duty and reserve service members, civilian employees, contractors, retirees, veterans and military family members.

The agency holds more than 60 million personnel records. Military Times first reported the breach last week.

According to the defence official, the unauthorised access continued from October 2025 through July, when DMDC discovered and patched the vulnerability in the affected system. Officials have found no evidence so far that any of the exposed information has been misused.

Defence officials said they are offering affected individuals identity-protection and credit-monitoring resources.

The Pentagon disclosure comes as the FBI is responding to a separate breach involving its jobs portal, FBIJobs.gov. The bureau sent employees a notice on Friday outlining its response.

An unidentified threat actor had said it would publish data including FBI employees’ names, home addresses, personal and work contact information, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and emergency contact information, sources told ABC News. The FBI is operating on the assumption that the personal information of every FBI employee was compromised.

However, in a statement sent Monday to The New York Times and 404 Media, the hacking group ShinyHunters said it would not release the data as it had previously threatened.

"Since the very beginning of this event, we have unequivocally and assiduously emphasised that this is NOT extortion, this is NOT ransom, this is NOT financially motivated," the statement said. “This was all a marketing campaign to protect our business and actively combat disinformation. If we made this statement normally, then this much attention to our words and intentions would’ve never been this widespread."

ABC News has not independently verified the group’s claims.

Employees affected by the FBI breach have also begun receiving notifications. The FBI said the compromised system, FBIJobs.gov, was unclassified.

The bureau has warned potentially affected employees to remain alert and avoid answering suspicious calls. It also plans to hold internal briefings for employees whose information may have been compromised.

According to the warning described to ABC News, employees were also instructed not to speak to the media. If members of the media are "trespassing," employees were told to call 911.

By Tamilla Hasanova