LONDON: Dozens of Afghans whose identities were leaked by the British Ministry of Defence said they have had family members or colleagues killed as a result of the data breach, research for a parliamentary investigation has found.
A spreadsheet containing the details of almost 19,000 people who had worked for the UK government in Afghanistan was accidentally leaked from the MoD in February 2022 — six months after the Taliban seized the capital Kabul.
Research involving 350 Afghans affected by the leak found that 231 said the ministry had contacted them directly to tell them their data had been breached.
Of those, 49 said family members or colleagues had been killed as a result of their details being leaked.
More than 40 percent had received direct death threats and at least half reported that friends or family had been threatened by the Taliban.
