Afghans resettled in UK hit by new data breach

Thousands of Afghans brought to safety in the United Kingdom have had their personal information exposed after a Ministry of Defence (MoD) sub-contractor suffered a data leak. Since Inflite The Jet Centre, which provides ground-handling facilities for flights at London Stansted Airport, has been possibly compromised, the names, passport information, and Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) information of up to 3,700 Afghans could have been compromised. It comes just a month after it was revealed that another big data leak in 2022 exposed the personal of nearly 19,000 people who had requested to come to the United Kingdom in order to escape the Taliban. The incident

has not posed any threat to people's wellbeing nor compromised any government services,

the government said.

There are currently no facts that indicates that any personal information has been revealed openly. Under a resettlement scheme for those who served with British troops, the Afghans impacted are said to have travelled to the United Kingdom between January and March 2024. On Friday afternoon, an Afghan resettlement team email alerted their families that personal information may have been leaked.

This may include passport information (including name, date of birth, and passport number) as well as Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) reference numbers,

it said. The BBC explains that those impacted include British military service personnel and former Conservative government ministers.

We were recently alerted that a third party sub-contractor to a supplier suffered a cyber attack involving unauthorised access to merely a small number of its emails that contained basic personal details,

a government spokesperson said. "We take data security seriously, and we're going above and beyond our legal obligations in informing all potentially affected individuals.

Inflite InfLite Inflicate The Jet Centre said in a statement that

the severity of the incident was limited to email accounts only

and that it had been reported to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Inflite had a report from the ICO, according to the BBC. The breach, according to Professor Sara de Jong of the Sulha Alliance charity that helps Afghans who served for the British Army, was astonish.The last thing Afghans – who saved British lives – need is more worrying about their own and their families' lives,

she said. Prof de Jong also urged the MoD to expedite all pending cases of Afghans awaiting relocation. The incident occurred in February 2022, when almost 19,000 Afghans' personal information that had applied to the United Kingdom under the Arap scheme was mistakenly leaked by a British official, resulting in thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK. The leaked spreadsheet contained the names, contact details, and family details of the individuals who might be in danger of being attacked by the Taliban. In July, the incident was made public for the first time.

Under a while, the son of a member of the Afghan Triples elite special forces who served with the British Army and was part of the initial MoD data leak was discussed by BBC's Newsnight programme. The man and his family joined the Arap scheme, which was designed to relocate and shield Afghans who served with British forces or the UK government in Afghanistan, shortly after the Taliban came to power in August 2021. The family was in Pakistan waiting for a final decision on the application, which was approved by the Ministry of Defense last year. After local authorities raided his Islamabad hotel, he faced imminent deportation back to Afghanistan, according to Newsnight. After their personal information was leaked, his son, who managed to flee from the authorities and talk to the BBC, said his family would not recover if they returned to Afghanistan. In a plea to the British government, the son said,

Please help my family and avoid their murder by the Taliban. Newsnight announced that the man had been arrested back to Afghanistan after the interview on Friday. The MoD said in a tweet that it had been

honoring promises

to all eligible individuals who pass their relevant checks for relocation.

Anyone coming to the United Kingdom must pass stringent security and immigration checks before being allowed to move to the UK, as the public would rightfully expect. In some cases, people do not pass these checks, the organization said. Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the former UK national security advisor, called both offences deeply concerning for the British government, according to Newsnight. Although checks for relocation are needed, Mr. Brown said that the British government must honour the pledge they made.We do need to move faster to shield people who are actually in danger of being abused and persecuted by the Taliban if they go back,

he said. Former Conservative Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said the data leaks were

very significantandvery troubling

for people facing deportation back to Afghanistan, according to Newsnight. Helen Maguire, the Liberal Democrat Defense Spokesperson, accused the government of

staggering incompetence and clearly inadequate security measures,when she called for animmediate, completely independent probe" into the security breaches.