"The potential vulnerabilities that were identified were addressed almost immediately," said Karena Crum, spokeswoman for the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center, according to a report by Stars and Stripes.
The Command was previously known as the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center Safe Access File Exchange (ARMDEC SAFE). The Alabama-based center is back online at safe.armdec.army.mil, Military.com reports, but the center will cease to be the owner of the site over the next few months, said Crum. She did not disclose who will manage that webpage.
"Senior leadership has determined that an agency with more capabilities than exist at CCDC Aviation & Missile Center will take over sustainment and maintenance of the site later this year," said the spokeswoman.
The US Marine Corps and the US Navy both sent out advisory notices last year instructing personnel to put sensitive, private information that could not be encrypted — like social security numbers, for example — on CDs or DVDs.
"You don't have to transfer files by burning to DVD and mailing across the country anymore," said a Reddit user quoted by Stars and Stripes after the site went back online. "No idea how long it'll last this time."
ARMDEC SAFE was one of the most versatile tools for sending unclassified — but sensitive — information in large quantities, the report says. Normal encrypted email is limited to sending 10 megabytes of information and cannot always be sent to all email recipients. With ARMDEC SAFE, military personnel could send up to 2 gigabytes of data to any military, government or civilian email address.
Officials in other military branches, including the US Air Force and US Army, told Stars and Stripes that they too lacked an alternative to ARMDEC SAFE, the report stated. These branches had also reverted to sharing information by sending faxes or optical disks via mail, the report notes.