Afghan interpreters' data leaked due to an employee's mistake

24.09.2021

The cases of about 250 Afghan interpreters willing to immigrate to the UK as refugees were exposed. The affected citizens were applying via the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) program, and their personal data was compromised due to the contacts copied en masse and sent to the Ministry of Defence.

The employee guilty of the incident has been recently suspended.

The risk of getting identified was emphasised by one of the interpreters.

Some of those affected by the breach accidentally made things even worse – there were people who rushed to press a reply-all option sending an email in response to the received one and thus revealing even more confidential information.

The worker who became the source of the breach is suspended for the whole period of the launched investigation.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has apologised on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.