Feds: No data breach tied to Centcom laptop theft

The 2013 laptop theft that raised fears of a data breach at the U.S. Central Command does not appear to have compromised Centcom’s system, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

There have been no signs of a data breach so far after Scott Duty, a former civilian employee of Centcom, allegedly stole five laptops in the course of his work in the command’s communications department. Duty was a property accountability manager until May 2013, according to the Tampa Tribune, which reported the U.S. Attorney’s comments.

Duty was indicted in the theft on Feb. 12 and arrested on Friday. He has been “cooperating with the government for a while on this,” his attorney told the Tribune.

The lack of evidence for a data breach is a likely relief to the government, which is under siege from hackers on a daily basis. The potential for government employees to steal hardware and use it to sell or distribute sensitive data is also considered a real threat, particularly in the wake of disclosures by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Centcom is a specific target for hackers. A group that claimed ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) recently broke into the command’s social media accounts.

There is no evidence the attack went further; however, the disruption made global headlines and proved a headache for command officials.