UK Ministry of Defense Leaks Data of 265 Afghan Citizens

Britain's data regulator said on December 13 it had fined the Ministry of Defence for an email data breach and disclosed the details of 265 Afghans who tried to move to Britain after the Taliban took control of Kabul.

The leak of data by the British Ministry of Defense could endanger the lives of Afghan citizens if the information falls into the hands of the Taliban. Pictured: The British Ministry of Defense headquarters in London. (Source: The Guardian)

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined the Ministry of Defence (MoD) £350,000 ($440,000) for failing to secure emails sent to Afghan nationals who worked for the British government.

In a statement, Information Commissioner John Edwards said the data breach was extremely regrettable.

“While the summer of 2021 was a difficult time and decisions were made quickly, that is no excuse for not protecting the information of those vulnerable to retaliation and at risk of serious harm,” Mr. Edwards also stressed.

The defence secretary at the time, Ben Wallace, apologised to the UK parliament. The MoD said it recognised the seriousness of the issue and reiterated that apology, while also putting in place further measures to address the ICO’s concerns in due course.

The ICO said the Ministry of Defence sent an email to Afghan citizens eligible for evacuation on 20 September 2021, in which the list of applicants was copied, resulting in the inadvertent disclosure of personal information of 245 people, compromising a total of 265 email addresses, and this could have endangered citizens' lives if the information fell into the hands of the Taliban.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/bo-quoc-phong-anh-lam-lo-du-lieu-265-cong-dan-afghanistan-253786.html