Army vows to help heroes after data breach

Army helps data breach victims
Investigation continues to determine how sensitive information got online
Army Times
By Joe Gould
Posted : Saturday Oct 13, 2012

Army will offer a year of credit-monitoring services to protect the 31 Social Security numbers of the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross recipients that were posted online last month.

The Army announced it began to inform the affected people or their next of kin on Oct. 11, after inquiries from Army Times, which first reported the breach on Sept. 28, and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R.-Calif., who wrote a letter dated Oct. 11 to urge Army Secretary John McHugh to take swifter action.

“It is critical that this issue is resolved immediately and the soldiers and families comprising the 31 individuals whose information was released are immediately informed, at the very least, of the data breach and provided every reassurance that the Army is taking the necessary action,” Hunter, a member of the House Armed Services Committee who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Marine Corps officer, said in the letter.

The exposed database — since removed — contained 518 records of the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star recipients for actions since the global war on terror began in 2001. In the database, Social Security numbers appeared for 31 soldiers, the six MoH and 25 DSC recipients, but none of the Silver Star recipients. Doug Sterner, curator of the Military Times “Hall of Valor,” uncovered the exposed database.
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Defense contractor had 518 decorated heroes data online