MoD in massive £7bn data breach after bungling Royal Marine accidentally sent secret email to wrong people

The Sun

15-07-2025

A FAT-FINGERED Royal Marine who sent a secret email to the wrong people is set to cost the government up to £7bn.
The email contained the details of 20,000 Afghans who were desperate to flee the Taliban after helping British forces between 2001 and 2021.
The list also included names of their individual UK sponsors including SAS and MI6 spies and at least one Royal Marine Major General.
The clumsy click has potential to be the most expensive data breach in history.
It put countless lives at risk as Afghanistan's ruthless Taliban rulers tried to hunt and kill anyone who had helped UK forces.
A number of named individuals have been killed since the leak. Others were tortured and beaten.
But sources insited it was impossible to prove conclusively whether it was a direct result of the data breach.
The epic MoD blunder was kept Top Secret for almost three years by a legal super injunction but can finally be made public today.
And the MoD only wrote to those affected to warn them today.
A source said: 'The MoD kept this secret and denied these people the chance to change their numbers, emails, locations or take any measures to protect themselves.'
The Sun understands that a serving member of UK Special Forces, who was originally a Royal Marine, accidentally emailed the database to a group of applicants who were named on the list.
An MoD source said it was 'human error and not a cyber hack or hostile state actor'.
I lived with Taliban for year secretly filming bloodthirsty terrorists' horror secrets… then orders were sent to kill me
One of the individuals later published the database online when his application was turned down.
Critics also accused the MoD of hiding the leak from the British public in bid to conceal the potential costs.
Defence Secretary John Healey is expected to say the cost of relocating the Afghans and their families will cost £400 million.
It includes £100 million in compensation for the data breach and £300 million to relocate them to Britain.
But government sources have estimated that the lifetime cost of supporting the 20,000 individuals and their families could hit £7bn.
Lawyer Adnan Malik, who represented around 1,000 victims, blasted the MoD for 'careless handling of sensitive information' which he warned had put lives at risk.
Mr Malik, from the Manchester based law firm Barings Law, added: 'This is an incredibly serious data breach, which the Ministry of Defence has repeatedly tried to hide from the British public.'
He added: 'A total of around 20,000 individuals have been affected, putting them and their loved ones at serious risk of violence from opponents and armed groups.
'Through its careless handling of such sensitive information, the Ministry of Defence has put multiple lives at risk, damaged its own reputation, and put the success of future operations in jeopardy by eroding trust in its data security measures.'
He accused the MoD of using a High Court injunction to try and keep the breach a 'national secret' in order to 'hide the failings of the MoD'.
Only around 10 to 15 per cent of the individuals on the list would have qualified for relocation under the emergency Afghan Relocation and Assistance Programme, known as ARAP, opened as Kabul fell to the Taliban.
But the leak means many more now have a valid claim for assistance and relocation.
The list included Afghans who worked hand-in-glove with Britain's special forces and intelligence services, as well as those who performed more menial tasks including such as cleaners on bases and embassies.
Mr added: 'Our claimants continue to live with the fear of reprisal against them and their families, when they should have been met with gratitude and discretion for their service.
'We would expect substantial financial payments for each claimant in any future legal action.
"While this will not fully undo the harm they have been exposed to, it will enable them to move forward and rebuild their lives.'