The AP News Wire reported on October 4th, it was revealed that more than 30,000 Pentagon workers’ personally identifiable information (PII), of both military and civilian personnel, including credit card numbers, had been compromised.  According to a U.S. official familiar with the matter, although no classified information was compromised, the breach could have happened some months ago but was only recently discovered.  “The department is continuing to assess the risk of harm and will ensure notifications are made to affected personnel,” said the DOD’s statement, adding that affected individuals will be informed in the coming days and fraud protection services will be provided to them.

In 2015, a massive hack of the federal Office of Personnel Management, widely blamed on China’s government, compromised personal information of more than 21 million current, former and prospective federal employees, including those in the Pentagon. The breach likely occurred months before it was discovered and made public. The Defense Department has consistently said that its networks and systems are probed and attacked thousands of times a day.

This breach comes at a poor time for the U.S. government, which was only recently criticized by the Government Accountability Office.  The GAO suggested that although improvements had been made to the Pentagon’s security, it still did not have adequate protections in place for its weapons systems. As new and more sophisticated cyber-attacks become commonplace in peacetime and war, the GAO suggested that the Pentagon needs to improve its provisions against such tactics.

If even the U.S. Department of Defense can’t reliably protect personally identifiable information (PII) from exposure, certainly commercial enterprises are at risk also, which means your PII is more than likely to be out there on the Dark Web.  That information is available just waiting for an identity fraud thief to start draining your bank accounts, using your credit to make purchases and committing fraud in your name. Why wait until you’re a victim of identity fraud to protect yourself?  For as little as 33 cents per day, you can have the peace of mind knowing that attacks on your identity are protected by IDENTITY ARMOR’s 360° Protection plan.  You’ll be covered by active monitoring and alerting for attempts to access your credit.  Dark Web scans will search for your social security number and if found, alert you via text and email.  Should identity fraud occur, you’ll be protected from damages relating to identity theft by a $1 million insurance policy, $5,000 lost wage protection, lost wallet restoration, and up to $1,000 in lost cash protection.  Also, you’ll have access to an identity restoration specialist that will work with you to restore any damage to your credit and fight any fraudulent charges.

Click here to learn more about IDENTITY ARMOR’s 360° Protection plans.