Afghan data leak: how selective state secrecy and cover-ups can harm civilians

By Victoria Canning, Professor of Criminology, Lancaster University
Sara de Jong, Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of York

In 2022, somebody in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) mistakenly shared a spreadsheet containing the personal information associated with 18,714 Afghans and their family members. This data breach, and the efforts to cover it up, raises serious questions about state secrecy, blame-shifting and accountability.

After discovering the mistake in August 2023, the government covered up their spectacular error with an unprecedented…

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