Personal data of over 130,000 sailors breached, US Navy says

The U.S. Navy has informed that over hundred thousand of its current and former sailors had their sensitive information compromised in a massive hack that was discovered last month.

The navy said that a computer used by a Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services (HPES) employee while working on a navy contract was reported as compromised.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services (HPES) notified the navy of this in October and a subsequent investigation revealed that 134,386 sailors had their information, including their names and social security numbers (SSNs), accessed by unknown individuals.

“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.”

The navy said it would notify those affected sailors in the coming weeks by multiple means including phone, letter and email.

It is still not known whether the accessed information was misused in any way, the navy noted.