The personal details of Afghans seeking sanctuary from the Taliban for themselves and their families after serving with British forces were accidentally leaked in at least 49 separate data breaches by the British Defense Ministry. File photo by Andy Rain/EPA
Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The security of thousands more Afghans who served with British forces in Afghanistan may have been compromised after their data was accidentally leaked by the British Defense Ministry department processing applications to resettle in the United Kingdom.
Freedom of Information requests lodged by the BBC revealed an additional 48 data breaches, on top of a 2022 leak of an unlocked document containing the names and details of almost 100,000 former interpreters and troops and their families seeking refuge from the Taliban.
Three other smaller leaks were already in the public domain.
"We take data security extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring that any incidents are dealt with properly, and that we follow our legal duties. All incidents that meet the threshold under U.K. data protection laws are referred to the Information Commissioner's Office, and any lesser incidents are examined internally to ensure lessons are learned," said an MoD spokesperson.
