US Coast Guard hack leads to paycheck delays, forces personnel systems offline

A data breach at the US Coast Guard (USCG) has forced officials to take its personnel and payment systems offline, resulting in paycheck delays for over 1,100 servicemembers.

A Coast Guard spokesperson told Cybernews on Tuesday it is currently “investigating the breach of data within its personnel and payroll system, which has impacted the timeliness of bi-weekly pay to 1,135 members.”

The US Naval Institute’s USNI news site first announced the breach on Friday. According to Military.com, the Coast Guard systems, which were taken offline to prevent any further intrusion, would be down until at least February 19th.

The outlet said that the hack exposed servicemembers’ sensitive financial information – including bank routing numbers and direct deposit account numbers – and was first discovered by a junior petty officer who detected unusual activity in the members' pay accounts.

“The Coast Guard Investigative Service and Coast Guard Cyber Command are leading an exhaustive investigation to determine the source and impact of the breach and will ensure it is resolved as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said in the statement sent to Cybernews.

“Concurrently, the Coast Guard Personnel Service Center and Pay and Personnel Center are expediting pay to any impacted Coast Guard members,” they said, calling “the men and women of the USCG workforce our most valuable resource.”

“They will be paid as soon as possible,” the spokesperson added.

Coast Guard Suffers Data Breach, Pay Delayed for 1,135 Members - USNI Newshttps://t.co/WiQB8dVH3b pic.twitter.com/YHpsS1R9PD

undefined U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) February 14, 2025

Coast Guard members take to social media

The data breach was apparently disclosed in an email sent to all USCG servicemembers that was not supposed to be shared with the public – but some servicemembers took to social media anyway to complain about not receiving their direct deposit paychecks as expected on Thursday and Friday.

“People are getting emails about DA being compromised, apparently only some accounts were affected so not everyone will have pay issues,” one Coastie posted in a thread on Reddit.

Other Reddit users claimed the breach only affected servicemembers with bank accounts at the military-friendly banking institution USAA. Some attributed this to USAA accounts being “identified first because they typically process pay earlier than most banks.”

“Data breach on bank routing numbers. Payments had to be reprocessed for those affected. Mutual Assistance had been notified and is standing by,” another Reddit user said in the thread.

DA stands for the Direct Access self-serve personnel software program used by Coast Guard members to manage personnel administrative records, pay information, and servicemembers' orders.

The DA system was designed to meet compliance regulations regarding the processing of servicemembers' Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

The Coast Guard spokesperson reiterated that its members “deserve transparency into the causes and resolution of this incident” and that through the “ongoing response and investigation,” the USCG will “continue to provide timely updates to the workforce.”

Additionally, they said the Coast Guard would provide “clarity regarding the Service’s efforts to address any vulnerabilities in our data system.”

Cybersecurity report reveals Coast Guard severely vulnerable to attacks

Ironically, the breach comes the same week the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report urging the military branch to prioritize its cybersecurity stance after finding significant and increasing cybersecurity risks to the US Maritime Transportation System (MTS), including by nation-state threat actors from China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and other transnational criminal organizations.

The GAO report further mentions severe risks to MTS facilities, including ports, terminals, waterways, and both US and foreign-flagged vessels that increasingly rely on technology vulnerable to cyberattacks. It warns that future attacks could severely impact US port operations.

The US Coast Guard, one of the six branches of the US Military, is responsible for maritime law enforcement, search and rescue operations, maritime safety, environmental protection, and homeland security.

It is the only military branch in the US Department of Homeland Security and has roughly 43,000 active duty personnel, 7,000 reservists, and about 8,500 full-time civilian employees.

In April 2024, the Coast Guard Reserve also suffered a network breach impacting close to 11,000 personnel.

In that breach, the home addresses of over 7,500 servicemembers, as well as the names and employee identification numbers of over 3,100 individuals were compromised, Military.com said.

It's unknown at this time if any of the members' compromised information was accessed during the breach.