2.8 Million Records, Including the Field That Helps Find High-Value Troops

The Pentagon says a breach compromised the records of 2.8 million living individuals, according to Ars Technica. Among the fields in those records, per one notification letter posted to Reddit, were Social Security numbers, names, addresses, sex, race and occupational specialty. That last category is the one to watch: the report notes it could be particularly valuable to foreign adversaries because it could help their intelligence agencies identify high-value military personnel. A personnel file that ties a name and a Social Security number to a job specialty is more useful to an intelligence service than any one of those pieces alone — the breach's real product may be the index, not the individual facts.