The U.S. government is reportedly notifying millions of current and former military service members and staff that their personal information was stolen during a months-long breach involving Pentagon personnel records.
According to a data breach notification from the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), several unauthorized users exploited a security vulnerability in an unspecified file-sharing system between October 2025 and mid-July 2026. The compromised records contained personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, sex, race, and other details related to military service. The notification says the personnel records were not encrypted.
Pentagon officials said the breach affects about 2.8 million living people and nearly 300,000 deceased individuals. The incident therefore involves information belonging to roughly 3.1 million people.
The DMDC is a Department of Defense records-keeping unit that maintains more than 60 million records involving U.S. military and civilian personnel and their families. Its records are used for determining benefits and entitlements such as healthcare and retirement. The organization also serves as a major identity management provider for the military, connecting service members, employees, and contractors with credentials used to access Pentagon systems, buildings, and military bases.
The Department of Defense said it has no indication that the stolen information has been misused, although officials did not explain how they reached that conclusion. The identities of the individuals behind the breach also remain unknown.
The incident is the latest in a series of breaches involving personal information belonging to U.S. government workers. Earlier in September, the FBI reportedly experienced a cybersecurity incident involving the theft of personal information belonging to agents, staff members, and applicants. The incident was attributed to the ShinyHunters hacking group, which later said it would not publicly release the stolen FBI data.
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The Pentagon breach also recalls the massive 2015 breach of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which exposed records belonging to more than 22 million federal government employees. That incident was broadly attributed to China and included information about many employees who held security clearances.
