Did Pentagon Subcontractor Leak Sensitive Special Operations Command Personnel Data?

A security researcher found 11 gigabytes of personal information and locations about U.S. Special Operations Command health care providers online in alleged database leak of a Defense Department subcontractor.

MacKeeper Security Researcher Chris Vickery wrote on his blog he found an unsecured file repository of the names, Social Security numbers, salaries, assignments and other personally identifiable information of health care professionals deployed with SOCOM, including two data analysts with top-secret clearances.

Vickery wrote he alerted Potomac Healthcare Solutions, a subcontractor of Booz Allen Hamilton, of what he found but the files remained online until he made subsequent calls.

“It’s not hard to imagine a Hollywood plotline in which a situation like this results in someone being kidnapped or blackmailed for information," he wrote. "Let’s hope that I was the only outsider to come across this gem."

Potomac Healthcare Solutions told ZDNet it was aware of the incident but denied any sensitive information was compromised. BBC reported Booz Allen Hamilton was also investigating.