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The personal data of Afghans brought to safety in the UK has been breached yet again in a Ministry of Defence (MoD)-linked cybersecurity incident.
The breach affecting up to 3,700 people includes Afghans who were brought to the UK under the MoD’s resettlement scheme for those who worked with British troops.
The number also includes people who travelled for routine military exercises and official engagements.
The breach came after Inflite The Jet Centre Ltd, a sub-contractor to an MoD supplier, which provides ground handling services for flights at London Stansted Airport, suffered a data loss. The incident affects contracts between the MoD, Inflite The Jet Centre, and the Cabinet Office.
The latest leak comes after another catastrophic data loss, which exposed the details of 18,700 Afghan applicants to a UK resettlement scheme. This breach prompted a secret evacuation scheme and the use of an unprecedented superinjunction to keep the details secret for nearly two years.
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A notification, sent out by the Afghan resettlement team on Friday afternoon, warned families that their personal information may have been exposed.
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“This may include passport details (including name, date of birth, and passport number) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) reference numbers,” the warning said.
Afghan families, eligible for relocation, have been flown on flights chartered by the MoD from Pakistan to the UK as part of the ongoing evacuation scheme.
Afghan families who served with the British are flown on chartered flights to the UK from Pakistan(The Independent)
There is currently no evidence to suggest that any data has been released publicly or on the dark web.
A government spokesperson said: “We were recently notified that a third-party subcontractor to a supplier experienced a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorised access to a small number of its emails that contained basic personal information.
“We take data security extremely seriously and are going above and beyond our legal duties in informing all potentially affected individuals.
“The incident has not posed any threat to individuals’ safety, nor compromised any government systems.”
In a statement published to Inflite The Jet Centre’s website on 10 August it said the breach involved data from January and March 2024.
“We have reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and have been actively working with the relevant UK cyber authorities, including the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), to support our investigation and response”, the company said.
Inflite The Jet Centre said it believed the data loss was “limited to email accounts only”.
However, the MoD notice issued on Friday said further personal information had been breached because “certain information is required by ground-handling companies to enable flights to depart and to arrive”.
Rafi Hottak, a former Afghan interpreter who campaigns for Afghans who have been left behind, said: “I am truly worried about how badly the UK MoD has mishandled the personal data of Afghan allies. Once again, they have failed to protect those who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them in the fight against terrorism.
“How can it be that we’ve now had three separate data leaks involving one of the most vulnerable groups of people?”
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A spokesperson for Inflite The Jet Centre said: “While we cannot comment on specific details of the data security incident or any communications related to it due to the sensitivity of the matter, we remain fully committed to protecting our systems, data, and the interests of all our stakeholders.
“We will continue to share updates with our customers, suppliers, employees, regulatory bodies, and relevant agencies, as is appropriate to do so.”