LONDON: Dozens of Afghans whose identities were leaked by the British Ministry of Defence said they have had family members or colleagues killed as a result of the data breach, research for a parliamentary investigation has found.
A spreadsheet containing the details of almost 19,000 people who had worked for the UK government in Afghanistan was accidentally leaked from the MoD in February 2022 — six months after the Taliban seized the capital Kabul.
Research involving 350 Afghans affected by the leak found that 231 said the ministry had contacted them directly to tell them their data had been breached.
Of those, 49 said family members or colleagues had been killed as a result of their details being leaked.
More than 40 percent had received direct death threats and at least half reported that friends or family had been threatened by the Taliban.
The study, part of evidence submitted to a defense select committee inquiry into the breach, was carried out by the charity Refugee Legal Support, Lancaster University, and the University of York.
A former member of the Afghan special forces who took part in the research said his home had been searched and family members attacked as a result.
“My father was brutally beaten to the point that his toenails were forcibly removed, and my parents remain under constant and serious threat,” he said. “My family and I continue to face intimidation, repeated house searches, and ongoing danger to our safety.”
Others surveyed said the delay between when the data leak was discovered in 2023, and when they were contacted in July this year to say their identities had been released, had further risked their safety.
“Waiting almost two years to inform individuals that their personal data was compromised has put many lives at risk unnecessarily,” a former Afghan National Army member currently residing in Afghanistan said. “Immediate notification could have allowed us to take protective measures much earlier.”
Refugee Legal Support’s Executive Director Olivia Clark said the research laid bare “the devastating human consequences” of the data breach.
“Afghans who served alongside UK forces have reported renewed threats, violent assaults, and even the killing of family members after their personal details were exposed,” she said.
She added only a minority of those affected by the data breach had been offered relocation to the UK.
The British government estimated more than 7,300 Afghans would be eligible for resettlement in the UK under a scheme set up in 2024 to help move those at risk from the data breach to the UK.
