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Thousands of Pentagon Emails Exposed without Password Could Pose U.S. Security Breach

Thousands of Pentagon Emails Exposed without Password Could Pose U.S. Security Breach

By Yehudit Garmaise

Not only are years of family photos and personal documents stored in “the cloud,” which is made up of computer servers in worldwide data centers, but sensitive US military e-mails and information that, if accessed, could mean serious security risks to Americans.

After approximately 18,600 emails that contained conversations among Pentagon officials and detailed questionnaires about the backgrounds of US employees to determine whether they pose any security risks were mistaken publicly exposed without passwords, the U.S. Defense Department is investigating the error, TechCrunch reported.

The Pentagon’s Cyber Command has launched the investigation into the security breach with Microsoft, which operates the Azure cloud-computing service that stores the data, Bloomberg reported.

As is typical when bad things happen, many fingers are pointed. 

While some say one Pentagon employee may be to blame for leaving the sensitive information accessible without a password, others say Microsoft’s server included a configuration error that caused the security breach.

If Microsoft is at fault for the security breach, the tech giant’s bids for future government contracts will likely be lost.

Pentagon Cyber Command investigators who have been scanning the networks of U.S. Special Operations Command have not yet discovered any leaks of any sensitive information.

U.S. Defense Department officials, which reported that they are only in the early stages of assessing the potential damage wrought by the exposed emails, declined provide more information.

“We just don’t comment on the security of our systems,” Sabrina Singh, a U.S. Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters at the Pentagon.

The security breach was revealed just as the Pentagon was considering moving much more of its data to commercial cloud-computing for convenience. 

Just eight days ago, however, US Pentagon Inspector General Robert Storch issued a report that warned that agency staff “may be unaware of vulnerabilities and cybersecurity risks” linked to storing data in the cloud.

photo credit: Flickr


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