BBC:
Thousands of Afghans brought to safety in the UK have had their personal data exposed, after a Ministry of Defence (MoD) sub-contractor suffered a data breach.
The names, passport information and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) details of up to 3,700 Afghans have potentially been compromised after Inflite The Jet Centre, which provides ground-handling services for flights at London Stansted airport, suffered a cyber-security incident.
It comes just a month after it was a revealed another major data breach in 2022 exposed the details of almost 19,000 people who had asked to come to the UK in order to flee the Taliban.
The government said the incident “has not posed any threat to individuals’ safety, nor compromised any government systems”.
There is currently no evidence to suggest that any data has been released publicly.
The Afghans affected are believed to have travelled to the UK between January and March 2024, under a resettlement scheme for those who worked with British troops.
An email sent out by the Afghan resettlement team on Friday afternoon warned their families that personal information may have been exposed.
“This may include passport details (including name, date of birth, and passport number) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) reference numbers,” it said.
Those affected also include British military personnel and former Conservative government ministers, the BBC understands.
A government spokesperson said: “We were recently notified that a third party sub-contractor to a supplier experienced a cyber security incident involving unauthorised access to a small number of its emails that contained basic personal information.
“We take data security extremely seriously and are going above and beyond our legal duties in informing all potentially affected individuals.”
