Data leak from UK defence ministry puts lives of Afghan interpreters in danger

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Data pertaining to Afghans who may be eligible to relocate to the UK has come out into the open again due to a blunder in Britain’s Ministry of Defence, potentially endangering the lives of these individuals, according to a BBC report.</p>
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Dozens of people were mistakenly copied in to an email with their email addresses visible to all recipients. Defence officials sent an email that had the email addresses and the names of 55 people which could be seen by everyone who was sent the message, the BBC said.</p>
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This is the second such breach that has taken place in the data pertaining to Afghans who helped the British forces in Afghanistan and now face death at the hands of the Taliban.</p>
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The MoD has apologised and said extra support was being offered to them.</p>
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The recipients – at least one of whom is from the Afghan National Army – were told UK relocation officials had been unable to contact them and they were asked to update their details, the BBC report said.</p>
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An MoD spokeswoman said: "This week, the defence secretary initiated an investigation into data handling within that team. Steps have now been taken to ensure this does not happen in the future."</p>
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The development comes just a day after the defence secretary apologised for a separate breach involving the email addresses of dozens of Afghan interpreters who worked for British forces.</p>
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Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said it had been "an unacceptable level of service" that had let down thousands of members of the armed forces and veterans.</p>
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More than 250 people seeking relocation to the UK – many of whom are in hiding – were mistakenly copied into the email.</p>
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Their email addresses could be seen by all recipients, showing people's names and some associated profile pictures.</p>
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Mr Wallace said an investigation had been launched and one official suspended.</p>
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