Afghan data leak: SAS and UK spies mentioned in Afghan data breach

The identities of more than 100 British officials, including members of the Special Forces and MI6, were compromised in a data breach that also brought thousands of Afghans with the risk of reprisals.

The last consequences of the infringement was kept secret by an order until Thursday, when the order was partially lifted by a judge of the Supreme Court.

Media organizations could reveal that detailed case remarks in the database contain secret personal data of special powers and spies.

The government had already admitted on Tuesday that the data of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had worked with the British during the 20-year war in Afghanistan and had requested to reset in the United Kingdom inadvertently leaked.

Many were assessed as a risk of serious damage or even death when the Taliban was looking for retaliation against those who had worked with the British government during the conflict.

This was part of the reason that the information was protected by a so-called “super-in-junction”-a kind of gagging order that occurs even the existence of the order.

The BBC understands that the man had previously been rejected for resettlement, but was brought to the UK after placing names from the data on Facebook and indicates that he could release the rest.

The Ministry of Defense (MOD) refused to comment on the actions of the individual, but said that “everyone who comes to the UK under all Afghan relocations schemes” should go through “robust security controls to gain access”.

The discovery of the infringement in 2023 forced the government to secretly set up the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) – a resettlement scheme for the affected ones who were not told about the infringement despite the risk to their safety.

The scheme has already enabled 4,500 Afghans and family members to move to the UK and another 2,400 people are expected, at an estimated cost of £ 850 million.

The chance leak was the result of someone who works at the British headquarters in the UK in London, accidentally accidentally e -mailing to a person outside the government, thinking that he sent data over only 150 people.

After lifting the Superinjunction on Tuesday, a secondary order had prevented the revelations about special forces and security services being dangered personally.

But that was also lifted on Thursday that lawyers who represented both the MOD and a group of media organizations achieved a compromise that meant that journalists could report the extra facts.

Defense Secretary John Healey said on Tuesday that the infringement was a “serious departmental error” and acknowledged that it was “just one of the many data losses” with regard to the Afghan removal schedules.

The Shadow Fension Secretary, James Cartlidge, apologized on behalf of the former conservative government, which was in power when the Lek was discovered.

The mod has refused to say how many people in Afghanistan have been damaged as a result of the data breach. The Taliban government said on Thursday that the Afghans affected by the leak had not arrested or checked.

But family members of Afghans mentioned in the Lek the BBC told that they are still fearing their family in the countryWith one who said the Taliban’s efforts to find their aforementioned relatively more intensive after the leak.

A Mod spokesperson said: “It is long -term policy of successive governments not to comment on special troops.

“We take the safety of our staff very seriously, especially of those in sensitive positions, and always have appropriate measures to protect their safety.”