Pentagon agency suffers data breach
A Defense Department agency reportedly suffered a data breach last year that may have compromised personal information, including Social Security numbers, of victims involved.
Reuters reported Thursday that the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) sent out a letter last week to all individuals affected by the breach, which DISA wrote took place between May and July of 2019.
DISA told victims in the letter, which was also tweeted out by one of the potential victims earlier this week, that “some of your personal information, including your Social Security number, may have been compromised” due to a data breach of DISA’s systems.
DISA did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the data breach incident, and the letter did not identify any individuals or groups responsible for the breach.
The agency reportedly told the victims that while “there is no evidence” that suggests any of the personal information stolen has been misused, DISA “takes this potential data compromise very seriously.”
Read more on the incident here.
SPOTLIGHT ON ELECTION ACCESSIBILITY: Disability rights advocates on Thursday urged election officials to focus on accessibility alongside security for U.S. elections and pushed for more technological solutions that would allow all Americans to cast secure votes.
“For people with disabilities, our votes aren’t secure now,” Kelly Buckland, the executive director of the National Council for Independent Living, said at an election accessibility summit hosted by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) on Thursday. “I believe we could make them more secure through technology that is available today.”
Election security experts have advocated for using more paper ballots to ensure no individual or group can hack the votes, and to ensure no glitch can occur.
However, disability groups on Thursday noted that moving to just paper could make it difficult to vote for blind or visually impaired people, those who have difficulty leaving their homes, or those for whom English is not their first language.
