The United States Navy got hacked by unknown hackers and the personal details of more than 134,000 sailors were accessed by them according to a report released by US officials. The US Navy revealed that 134,386 current and former US sailors were exposed in this data breach, and the organization is now working on notifying those affected sailors through mail, phone calls, and letters.
“The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously- this is a matter of trust for our Sailors”, said Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Robert Burke. “We are in the early stages of investigating and are working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach”.
HP notified the Navy of the attack on October 27 when the company discovered that one of the laptops used by an employee as part of the Enterprises Services agreement was hacked. Navy laptops are operated by sailors based on a contract with HP.
The data accessed included names and social security numbers of sailors, however the Navy does not currently believe it was misused. This is still no evidence about who stole the information and how the stolen information is being used by the attackers, but the investigation is going on.
“After analysis by HPES and a continuing Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigation, it was determined Nov. 22, 2016, that sensitive information, including the names and Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of 134,386 current and former Sailors were accessed by unknown individuals”, the Navy said in a statement.