March 1 (UPI) -- The personal information, including banking and Social Security numbers, of thousands of civilians and military members was compromised by an errant email sent by the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, the military said Thursday.
The data breach affects 21,426 Marines, sailors and civilians, Maj. Andrew Aranda, spokesman for Marine Forces Reserve, told UPI. He said the information was in an email attachment "erroneously" sent to an email distribution list Monday.
"It was very quickly noticed and email recall procedures were implemented to reduce the number of accounts that received it," Aranda said.
The information in the attachment included names, truncated Social Security numbers, bank electronic funds transfer and bank routing numbers, truncated credit card information, mailing addresses, residential addresses and emergency contact information.
"We are still looking into the spread of the information after the initial email was sent, and while no malicious intent was involved, we still are going to notify all those affected and inform them of the appropriate steps to safeguard their identity and credit from illegal use," Aranda said.
