A security breach into a Pentagon database exposed the sensitive personal information of about 3 million people to risk, according to what was revealed by ABC News.
The network quoted an American defense official that the hack included the data of 2.76 million living people and 294,000 deceased people. The official explained that one of the “Manpower Data Center” systems in the Pentagon was subjected to unauthorized access by a limited number of users between October 2025 and July 2026, which allowed access to social security numbers and job details for military personnel and civilian employees, which raises serious concerns related to national security.
The official confirmed that the center addressed the security vulnerability as soon as it was discovered, noting that defense officials have not found, so far, any evidence confirming the misuse of the disclosed data.
In a related context, this incident coincides with a separate investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regarding an allegation by a group calling itself “Shiney Hunters” of hacking its employment portal. The group claims to have obtained data relating to former workers and job applicants, including names, home addresses, phone numbers, and information about spouses, in addition to medical data, at a time when it has not yet been decided whether the hack occurred within the office’s systems or through an external provider.
The Shiny Hunters group claimed that it exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in the Oracle PeopleSoft program dedicated to managing human resources and financial data, and seized between 2 to 3 terabytes of data, while the actual size of the stolen items is still under investigation.
These incidents come in light of a series of previous security breaches against the FBI, which included the discovery of Chinese hackers inside a database linked to local surveillance orders following hacks that affected American communications networks, as well as the hacking and leaking of the personal email of the office director, Kash Patel, last March, in an attack attributed to a pro-Iranian activist group.
