Hackers and cyber criminals are gradually upping their game. After exposing exclusive personal information of millions of users through massive data breaches of popular social media platforms and other websites, now these notorious criminals are eyeing high-profile government institutions. And, they are succeeding at that as well. The current occurrence is a clear proof that nothing and nobody is safe from the malicious tactics of hackers.
According to the official website of United States’ Navy, personal and sensitive information of more than 134,386 of its officials has been obtained by hackers.
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The US Navy has confirmed the security breach and stated that the hack was launched from just one hacked laptop, which belonged to an unnamed Navy contractor who is an employee at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services.
Forbes reports that Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Navy signed a $3.5 billion contract in 2013 for the development of Next Generation Enterprise Network. This network is being developed to replace the aging Navy-Marine Corp Intranet. Hewlett Packard informed the US Navy about the breach, which happened on 27th October.
According to initial investigation conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS), the information obtained by the hackers included sensitive private details of US Navy sailors including their names and social security numbers (SSNs).
The officials at US navy are surprised with a successful security breach of this magnitude. Vice Admiral Robert Burke, Chief of Naval Personnel, released an official statement in which he stated that this incident is being taken “extremely seriously” by the institution. The Navy has stated that the affected sailors will be notified through phone, email and mail “in the coming weeks.”
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The Navy has, apparently, no clue about the identities of the hackers and has referred to them as “unknown individuals.”
“We are in the early stages of investigating and are working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach,” said Burke.
“This is a matter of trust for our sailors,” added Vice Adm Burke.
Currently, there is no authentic information available regarding which hacking group is behind this hack attack or from where the attack was directed.
It has also been revealed by the NCIS investigation that there is no proof or indication that the hacked details have been exploited as yet. However, it is also clear that full details of the breach haven’t been acquired by the Navy itself since the investigation is still going on.
Also Read: US Navy Developing Cyber Protection System to Protect Ships from Cyberattacks
In 2013, officials had blamed Iran for penetrating into the unclassified computer networks of the US navy whilst China and Russia are also usual suspects in such cases. Let’s see who will be blamed for the latest hacking feat.
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