Soldiers' Data Still Being Downloaded Overseas, Firm Says

[lyger <lyger () attrition org>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/01/AR2009100104947.html?hpid=moreheadlines

The personal data of tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers -- including those 
in the Special Forces -- continue to be downloaded by unauthorized 
computer users in countries such as China and Pakistan, despite Army 
assurances that it would try to fix the problem, according to a private 
firm that monitors cybersecurity.

Tiversa, which scours the Internet for sensitive data, discovered the data 
breaches while conducting research for private clients. The company found, 
as recently as this week, documents containing Social Security numbers, 
blood types, cellphone numbers, e-mail addresses, and the names of 
soldiers' spouses and children.

The availability of such data, security experts say, exacerbates the 
threat of identity theft and retaliation against troops on sensitive 
missions. In addition to using the information to drain financial 
accounts, hackers could pose as soldiers in an effort to ferret out 
sensitive data, including passwords to government systems.

[...]
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