Thousands of Afghans resettled in the United Kingdom under a government scheme have had their personal details exposed in a new data breach, raising fresh concerns over the protection of sensitive information.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that up to 3,700 Afghans may have been affected after Inflite The Jet Centre, a subcontractor providing ground-handling services at London Stansted Airport, suffered a cyber-attack. The breach potentially compromised names, passport details, dates of birth, and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) reference numbers.
The Afghans affected are believed to have travelled to the UK between January and March 2024 under the Arap scheme, which supports individuals who worked alongside British forces in Afghanistan. In addition to Afghan families, the incident is also understood to involve the details of British military personnel and former Conservative government ministers.
The MoD said there is no evidence that the stolen data has been released publicly and stressed that the breach has not posed a direct threat to individuals’ safety or compromised government systems. Nevertheless, affected families were warned by email on Friday that their information may have been exposed.
The disclosure comes just weeks after it emerged that nearly 19,000 Afghans who sought relocation to the UK in 2022 had their personal information leaked in a separate breach. The latest incident adds to growing criticism over the government’s handling of sensitive data related to vulnerable groups.
A government spokesperson defended the response, saying: “We were recently notified that a third-party subcontractor 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.”
For many Afghans who risked their lives to support British troops, these breaches raise fears about their long-term safety, particularly if such information were to fall into hostile hands. Campaigners have urged the government to strengthen oversight of contractors handling sensitive resettlement data to prevent similar incidents in the future.
