The Blue Angels perform a fly-over at the start of the graduation and commissioning ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, May 27. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque, File)
The personal data of more than 130,000 sailors was accessed by unknown individuals after a contractor's laptop was breached, the Navy announced Wednesday.
The Navy was notified in October by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services that one of the company's laptops operated by their employee supporting a Navy contract was "compromised," the service said in a news release.
On Wednesday, Navy officials determined that sensitive information, including the names and Social Security numbers of 134,386 current and former Sailors were accessed by unknown individuals.
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"The Navy takes this incident extremely seriously- this is a matter of trust for our Sailors," Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Robert Burke said in a statement. "We are in the early stages of investigating and are working quickly to identify and take care of those affected by this breach."
The Navy Criminal Investigative Service is handling the investigation of the breach, but so far says there is no evidence to suggest misuse of the information that was compromised.
The Navy said it will notify those affected Sailors in the coming weeks by multiple means including phone, letter and email.
For those affected by the breach, the Navy said it is working to provide further details on what happened, and is reviewing credit monitoring service options for affected sailors.
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