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Marines’ personal data exposed on Web

Some Marines’ personal information, including names and Social Security numbers, was inadvertently posted online recently, exposing more than 10,000 leathernecks to potential identity theft, the Corps announced.

Under a research contract, Penn State University obtained from the Corps the personal information of Marines who had rifle range requalification records while attending Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., from January 2004 through December 2006.

The data belonging to 10,554 Marines was “improperly posted” by Penn State, according to a Corps-wide message.

The information was then cached by the Google Internet search engine, states MarAdmin 443/07.

The issue came to light when one of the affected Marines googled his own name and found the posting, said Maj. Tim Keefe, a spokesman at Quantico, Va.

The Marine contacted Penn State officials, who immediately took the information off the Internet and notified the Corps of the problem July 6. However, the information was available online for 10 to 11 days, Keefe said.

The data was initially posted on the Web site June 7, said university spokeswoman Lisa Powers, who confirmed it was removed 11 days later. Penn State officials are investigating the incident and believe that there may be duplicate entries in the file, thereby lessening the number of Marines affected, she added.

When asked to explain the delay between Penn State’s discovery of the breach on June 18 and notification to the Corps on July 6, Powers said, “I really couldn’t tell you.”

Release of the sensitive information appears to be contained, the Corps said.

“Information to date indicates that the Web page containing the information was only accessed by one individual, a Marine whose information was released,” the MarAdmin states.

The university researcher who posted the information, and who had worked with the Corps on a previous occasion, was studying the range qualification records to compare efficiencies of live fire versus simulated, Powers said. He posted the data on a Web site so other researchers could access it.

“He did not know [the Marines’] personal identifiable information was included,” she said.

Google has online resources to help Webmasters keep confidential information out of the Internet search engine, a company spokesman said.

“When we are informed that information in our cache is no longer on the Web, we act quickly to delete it from the cache. This is our standard procedure. In addition, we provide tools to help Webmasters remove information they inadvertently publish. We updated these tools recently to help people get content removed from our search engine even more quickly,” the spokesperson said.

The Marine Corps is contacting each affected individual and has set up a call center, Keefe said.

The MarAdmin advises Marines to review their credit reports and look for suspicious activity, such as loans or new accounts they did not request, or activity on an old or inactive account.

A Federal Trade Commission Web site offers tips to protect yourself from identity theft and offers advice on what to do if you are a victim.