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The Defense Department is digging into a computer server that a cybersecurity researcher discovered exposed a trove of internal U.S. military emails.
The Microsoft Azure server contained three terabytes of data, according to independent security researcher Anurag Sen, who shared some of the emails involving U.S. Special Operations Command with The Washington Times.
Navy Cmdr. Jessica McNulty, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the department’s chief information officer and the Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network were investigating the matter to “understand the root cause of the exposure and why this problem was not detected sooner.”
She said in a statement Thursday night that the affected server was removed from public access Monday and the Defense Department would notify personnel affected by the incident.
Mr. Sen said he identified the exposed server during a routine check. He said a likely human error meant the server was not password-protected and those who knew where to look would have had access after a misconfiguration occurred two weeks ago.
Regarding whether the human error was attributable to Defense Department or Microsoft personnel, Mr. Sen said an internal review of the government’s logs ought to clarify who bore responsibility.
Microsoft declined to comment this week and referred questions to the Department of Defense. The company did not immediately respond to questions Friday.
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