The British Ministry of Defence has acknowledged a recently reported second breach of the private data of around 55 Afghans who were seeking relocation. Their emails were accidentally included in the CC instead of a blind carbon copy (bcc), thus revealing their addresses, names, and profile pictures to all the recipients of the email.
"We have been made aware of a data breach that occurred earlier this month by the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) team. […] Steps have now been taken to ensure this does not happen in the future", a spokeswoman for the ministry told the BBC.
This is the second such data breach this month. News about it broke the same week as Defence Secretary Ben Wallace condemned the previous mishap by the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy team in which the data of around 250 Afghans was leaked.
Wallace announced an investigation into the incident and a suspension of one official in connection with the case earlier this week, promising that the ministry is "working hard to ensure it does not happen again".
23 September 2021, 11:45 GMT
Both data breaches happened as the ARAP team was contacting Afghans who used to work with NATO forces in Afghanistan regarding efforts to relocate them from the country, taken over by the Taliban* in August. Many Afghans who helped the western forces feared retribution from the insurgents, despite the latter promising amnesty for them. The UK did not manage to evacuate all willing Afghans during the withdrawal in August, often described as "chaotic" and poorly organised.
*The Taliban is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and many other nations.