Air Force investigates data breach

Personal details on more than 33,000 officers compromised

By Linda Rosencrance

August 19, 2005 12:00 PM ET

Recommended

Computerworld - The U.S. Air Force is notifying more than 33,000 officers that their personal data has been breached by a malicious hacker, the Air Force said today.
The hacker used a legitimate user's ID and password to access personal information on the officers contained in the Assignment Management System (AMS), an online program used for assignment preferences and career management, the Air Force said. That data included career information, birth dates and Social Security numbers.
Lt. Col. Michele Dewerth, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC) at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, said there has been no evidence of identify theft.
A systems operator at the air base discovered the breach sometime between May and June, Dewerth said. She declined to be more specific because of the ongoing investigation.
"Immediately upon discovery we put more security measures in place," she said.
The personnel center also notified Air Force and federal investigators that there was unusually high activity on a single user's AMS account in June, according to the statement.
"We notified airmen as quickly as we could while still following criminal investigation procedures with the [Air Force's Office of Special Investigations]," said Maj. Gen. Tony Przybyslawski , AFPC commander. "Protecting airmen's personal information is something we take very seriously, and we are doing everything we can to catch and prosecute those responsible under the law."
The breach involved data on half of the force's approximately 70,000 officers. It also affected fewer than 20 enlisted personnel, the Air Force said.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Security

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

Do You Know the 7 Steps to Successful Data Migration?

Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.

WHITE PAPER

Total Cost of Ownership of Server Computing Vs. PCs

Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.

WHITE PAPER

IDC White Paper: Linux in a Global Recession

Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Informatica 9 Launch: Transform your Business. Transform your world.

LIVE Nov 10, 2009 12:00 PM ET

Architecting Business Intelligence Applications for Change: The Open Solution

LIVE Nov 12, 2009 02:00 PM ET

Mastering eDiscovery: The IT Manager's Guide to Preservation, Protection & Production
Get this paper now!

Top to Bottom Performance Management Excellence at the City of Chicago
View now.

Not Just Words: Enforce Your Email and Web Acceptable Usage Policies
Get this paper now!

Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!

Email Archiving: A Business-Critical Application
Get this paper now!

Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.

IBM ISS X-Force Threat and Risk Report
Learn about all aspects of threats that affect Internet security.

Strategies for Driving Down IT Support Costs with Lite ITIL Practices
View this now!

The New World of eCrime: Targeted Brand Attacks and How to Combat Them
Download This Whitepaper Now!

Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.

All White Papers | All Webcasts