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A confidential source has told the Afghan leak inquiry that the UK failed to secure sensitive devices allowing the Taliban to locate local individuals who collaborated with western forces.

Data Breach Endangers Numerous at Risk

Person A, known as Person A, testified that people concerned by the information breach were instructed to change residences and change their mobile numbers to avoid detection from militant forces.

MPs are investigating the UK government's handling of a catastrophic leak of confidential data affecting approximately 19k Afghans who had applied to move to Britain to flee militant rule.

The Information Breach Was Discovered

A spreadsheet with their personal data, including identities, contact details and occasionally relative details, was mistakenly released by a worker stationed at British military command in February 2022.

The incident was discovered months later, when the names of nine people who had sought to settle in the UK surfaced on online platforms.

Militant Technology

“There seems to be a false assumption that militant forces lack comparable resources that western nations possess,” she told the committee.

Technology was deserted in Afghanistan; it's in their hands. Once they acquire your phone number, they can trace you down to within metres. That is what specialized teams achieved.”

When questioned about whether the Taliban had access to advanced decryption, the whistleblower declared: “They possess all resources.”

Consequences of the Security Lapse

Initial findings submitted to the investigation suggested that at least 49 family members and associates of individuals impacted by the breach had been executed.

A gag order concerning the incident was implemented in August 2023 and restricted any information regarding the matter from being made public until recently.

Safety Measures

Due to legal constraints, Person A and the aid group associated with told Afghan families they were working with that they had “apprehensions that somebody's phone had been intercepted”.

“We advised that they change residence where feasible and changed their mobile numbers. These represented the primary information that, if authorities acquired these details, would result in them being traced,” Person A explained.

Contested Findings

The source argued that an official review carried out by a former official had been wrong to determine that the possession of the records by the Taliban was “unlikely to substantially change present danger”.

“The thing to remember is that affected people are in hiding from the Taliban; they live secretly. The primary issue involves past work history.”

The source explained disturbing violence endured by at-risk Afghans, comprising electrocution, interrogation techniques, and severe beatings.

“There are cases of toddlers who have had their arms broken to force the family to say where someone is,” the whistleblower revealed.