The secret identities and ranks of several elite members of Britain’s armed forces were shared online on free to read websites without a password for two decades
The secret identities of members of Britain’s elite soldiers potentially engaged in operations around the world have been freely available online for several years, according to a bombshell report. The identities, codenames and ranks of the members of the armed forces members were shared by two publications connected to the British Army.
The latest updates were made only a few months ago and are feared to have been on active duties at the time, potentially putting them at risk. Although the published documents were intended for the soldiers themselves, it would appear the personal information of the fighters was published online without password protection in place.
The Sunday Times reported the documents did not reveal their units, but did show their names and codenames which were used to refer to the special forces. The Ministry of Defence said: “The safety of our personnel is of paramount importance, and we take data security extremely seriously.
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“Where we become aware of any potential risk, we will always take immediate action.” One of the publications revealed 14 names over ten years. The other published six identities in around four years.
Some of them have long military careers and another is the son of the current politcian.
Ex security minister Tom Tugend, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said: “Thirty years ago terrorism coming from Northern Ireland made us all aware of operational security at home. It’s clear some of those lessons need to be learnt again.”
Last month it was reported Ministry of Defence is investigating after a cache of documents containing sensitive military information was found in the street. The papers, some marked “official – sensitive”, were discovered spilling out of a black bin bag in the Scotswood area of Newcastle on March 16.
The paperwork includes details about soldiers’ ranks, shift patterns, email addresses, weapon issue records and access information for military facilities and appears to relate to relate to units based at Catterick Garrison, the BBC has reported. One sheet reportedly headed “armoury keys and hold IDS codes” believed to reference an armoury and intruder detection system.
The find was made by Mike Gibbard, a football fan from Gateshead, who said: “I peered down and started to see names on bits of papers, and numbers, and I thought ‘what’s that?”
The MoD said: “We are aware documentation allegedly relating to the department was recently handed in to the police. We are looking into this urgently and the matter is the subject of an ongoing internal investigation.”
