Hackers steal US Air Force Officer data

[glooperoo]

This is an interesting twist on all the data theft <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3321095">taking place these days</a><!--EZCODE LINK END-->:<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>Air Force database breached<br>Military says hackers stole details on officers<br>By JONATHAN KRIM<br>Washington Post<br><br>WASHINGTON - <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Social Security numbers, birth dates and other private data on roughly 33,000 Air Force officers — about half the branch's officer corps — were stolen from a military computer database, the service informed its personnel late last week.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Officials of the Air Force Personnel Center, based at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, said the intrusion occurred sometime in May or June, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>apparently by someone who used a legitimate user's log-in information to gain access to the system.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>The exposed data did not include financial records but contained such personal information as marital status, number of children and academic records. No incidents of identity fraud have been tied to the theft, the military said, but officers were warned that Social Security numbers could be used to get other private data. Personnel were advised to monitor their credit reports closely.<br><br>The theft is the latest in a spate of data breaches over the past two years involving government agencies, universities, commercial firms and data brokers, resulting in the exposure of tens of millions of consumers to potential fraud.<br><br>The Air Force information was contained in an online system designed to help officers manage their assignments and careers. The Air Force detected the breach after "we determined that there was one individual who was reviewing a lot of these records ... it was very uncharacteristic," Maj. Gen. Anthony Przybyslawski said.<br><br>The incident is being investigated by both military and civilian law enforcement agencies.<br><br>"We are conducting a wall-to-wall review of our personnel-related data systems to maximize the security of the systems," Przybyslawski wrote in a letter on Friday to personnel.<br><br>He wrote that the career-management system was shut down when the intrusion was discovered, but personnel were not immediately notified pending an initial investigation.<br><br>The system was restored with enhanced security, the letter said, adding that "identity theft and other fraudulent uses of our resources steal from our operational budgets."<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <br><br>And here's the notification letter they Air Force Personnel Center <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/pubaffairs/release/2005/08/AMS%20Letter.pdf">sent out to all the officers</a><!--EZCODE LINK END-->:<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>...<br>In the interest of full disclosure, I also want you to know the accessed AMS records contained a number of items which are not subject to release without your consent under the Federal Privacy Act; such as marital status, number of dependents, date of birth, race/ethnic origin (if declared), civilian educational degrees and major areas of study, school and year of graduations, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>and dutry information for overseas assignments or for routinely sensitive units</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->.<br>...<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Duty information for routinely sensitive units? I don't know what exactly that means, but it sounds like there was more than simply career-oriented information taken. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :\ --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/ohwell.gif ALT=":\"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>

[ZeroHaven]

they made a tiny typo actually, it's supposed to be "routinely deployable or sensitive units"<br>and yes, by sensitive they mean classified activity. <p><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a239/ZeroHaven/tinhat.gif"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></p><i></i>

[hanshan]

<br><br><br><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://www.toonworld.be/data/thumbnails/5/Wile_E_Coyote_300.jpg" style="border:0;"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--><br><br><br>It's rather hilarious. <br><br>Keystone Cops meet Darth Vader.<br><br><br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:blue;font-family:comic sans ms;font-size:xx-small;">.....</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <p></p><i></i>

[glooperoo]

Yeah, that would be my typo, as is my dutry as a member of the 101st incompetent keyboarders. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :b --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":b"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>I'm still really quite curious to know just what kind of info was stolen about approximately half the officers in the USAF. My first thoughts were that this might be an attempt to grab any blackmail-enabling info on all these officers, but then I figured they probably aren't leaving that kind of information in the system that the officers themselves access. But then again, it sounds like it was a single user's account that was accessing all the information which was what tipped the authorities off in the first place that something was going on. That implies the use of an account with high-level access, so once again it seems possible that whoever it was that pulled this off was accessing priviledged information that maybe even the officers themselves can't typically see. Given the blackmail pandemic that appears to be taking place in our military and political establishments, who knows just what is being kept on these files? The admission of "sensitive" information going missing is bad enough. <br><br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rolleyes --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/eyes.gif ALT=":rolleyes"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>