Ministry of Defence staff were warned before the Afghan data leak not to share information containing hidden tabs, according to documents released by the UK’s data regulator.Last month it emerged that the details of almost 19,000 people fleeing the Taliban who had applied to move to the UK were leaked when an official emailed a spreadsheet that contained a hidden tab with the information.Documents released by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) also show that staff there raised concerns about why the body had not issued a fine to the MoD.The MoD said they had worked to improve data security, but an ICO spokesperson said the government had not yet done enough to learn the lessons.According to an ICO memo, guidance in place at the time of the leak showed that the “MoD was aware of the risks of sharing data and explicitly referenced the need to remove hidden data from datasets”.Hidden tabs are a common feature in spreadsheet software and make information invisible to the user, but still easily accessible if the settings on a document are changed.The government estimates that the 2022 leak, which led to an emergency resettlement scheme for people at risk of persecution by the Taliban, will eventually cost around £850m.The leaked document contained the names, contact details and, in some cases, family information of thousands of people who believed their association with British forces during the Afghanistan war could leave them at risk of harm.A super-injunction granted by …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnMinistry of Defence staff were warned before the Afghan data leak not to share information containing hidden tabs, according to documents released by the UK’s data regulator.Last month it emerged that the details of almost 19,000 people fleeing the Taliban who had applied to move to the UK were leaked when an official emailed a spreadsheet that contained a hidden tab with the information.Documents released by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) also show that staff there raised concerns about why the body had not issued a fine to the MoD.The MoD said they had worked to improve data security, but an ICO spokesperson said the government had not yet done enough to learn the lessons.According to an ICO memo, guidance in place at the time of the leak showed that the “MoD was aware of the risks of sharing data and explicitly referenced the need to remove hidden data from datasets”.Hidden tabs are a common feature in spreadsheet software and make information invisible to the user, but still easily accessible if the settings on a document are changed.The government estimates that the 2022 leak, which led to an emergency resettlement scheme for people at risk of persecution by the Taliban, will eventually cost around £850m.The leaked document contained the names, contact details and, in some cases, family information of thousands of people who believed their association with British forces during the Afghanistan war could leave them at risk of harm.A super-injunction granted by …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
