What to Know About the Pentagon Breach Affecting Millions

A reported monthslong breach in the Defense Department’s human resources database exposed personal information of millions of military personnel and those related to them, including their Social Security numbers and job details.Unidentified Pentagon officials confirmed to CNN and ABC News that some 2.76 million “living individuals” and 294,000 “deceased individuals” have been affected by the breach at the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC). The breach was first reported by defense-focused news publication Military Times on Thursday, citing a breach notification letter to a person whose information was in the affected files.It remains unclear what particular files were accessed and who was behind the incident. TIME has requested comment from the Pentagon. The length of the breach and the amount of personal information exposed present a security risk for many personnel linked with the department, and some experts say it makes other security compromises, like phishing attempts, easier for bad actors.What we know about the breachThe DMDC collates personnel, manpower, training, financial, and other data for the Defense Department for healthcare, retirement funding, and other administra...