“Anyone with the public IP address of the exposed cloud email server could access the sensitive but unclassified emails inside using only a web browser.”
A Microsoft government cloud email server sat open on the internet with no password and spilled about three terabytes of military email. Some of it belonged to SOCOM, and it included security clearance questionnaires. The server was locked down on February 20, 2023, after TechCrunch went over SOCOM’s head. Around 20,600 people found out a year later, from a letter dated February 1.