Sensitive, highly detailed personal data for thousands of active-duty and veteran U.S. military members can be purchased for as little as one cent per name through data broker websites, according to a new study published on Monday by Duke University researchers.
Researchers have issued a warning about the ease with which data related to military personnel, their families, and associates can be accessed and exploited by malicious actors for various purposes, including blackmail and misinformation campaigns.
The data purchased as part of the study contained a range of information about military personnel, including full names, physical and email addresses, health and financial details, as well as information about ethnicity, religious beliefs, and political affiliations. In some cases, the data even included information about the individual’s homeownership status, marital status, and whether they had children, including the children’s ages and genders. personal data for thousands
The researchers engaged with 12 data brokers to inquire about purchasing military personnel data. They found that many of these brokers lacked proper controls on who could acquire the data and did not have regulations in place to ascertain the intended use of the information. The researchers were able to narrow down their data selections to military personnel located in Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia.
The results revealed service members living near military installations, including Fort Quantico and Fort Walker (formerly known as Fort AP Hill) in Virginia, and Fort Liberty (formerly known as Fort Bragg) in North Carolina.
This study underscores the fact that thousands of data brokers, many based in the United States, collect and sell data on millions of individuals every year. They obtain data through various means, including public records, mobile app companies, and credit reporting agencies.
The researchers were able to purchase data on approximately 45,000 military personnel for prices ranging from $0.12 to $0.32 per record. They also acquired data pertaining to 5,000 friends and family members of military personnel. Larger data purchases of over 1.5 million service members were available for as little as $0.01 per record from at least one broker they contacted.
Given the risks associated with this exposure of military personnel data, the researchers have called on Congress to pass comprehensive privacy legislation and for regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, to establish rules governing the acquisition of military personnel data. This issue is particularly concerning because nation-state adversaries and governments are also interested in acquiring data from brokers, making it important to safeguard this sensitive information, especially in operations targeting classified U.S. sources.