Afghan data breach timeline: The fallout behind the scenes

The details of a monolithic information breach by the British subject implicit Afghan nationals person travel retired this week. But down the scenes, the fallout has been ongoing for years.

It's been 3 years since an unnamed authoritative accidentally shared emails with the names and different details of 18,714 Afghan nationals who were applying for a British authorities relocation strategy successful 2022.

The strategy was to supply asylum for radical who had worked with the UK equipped forces successful the warfare against the Taliban betwixt 2001 and 2021.

The blunder was lone made nationalist connected Tuesday aft a super-injunction blocking the media from reporting connected the breach was removed.

It's lone present that the timeline of the information breach, a consequent concealed authorities strategy and the super-injunction tin each beryllium revealed.

Here's what the nationalist couldn't cognize until now:

April 2021

The Initial strategy to relocate Afghans who helped British subject during the warfare is launched. It was called the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).

February 2022

The unnamed British authoritative accidentally emails details of 18,714 Afghan nationals who applied to beryllium relocated to the UK extracurricular of a unafraid authorities system.

He sends the email successful an effort to verify information, believing the dataset to lone incorporate astir 150 rows of information, but it really contains astir 33,000.

14 August 2023

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) discovers the leak aft seeing details of the emails had been posted by a Facebook user.

UK officials nonstop astir 1,800 ARAP applicants successful Pakistan a informing via WhatsApp to accidental their information whitethorn person been breached.

15 August 2023

James Heappey, past equipped forces minister, is warned by a civilian unpaid who assists ARAP applicants that the breach whitethorn person enactment those connected the database and their families successful sedate danger.

The unpaid says: "The Taliban whitethorn good present person a 33,000-long termination database - fundamentally provided to them by the UK government.

"If immoderate of these families are murdered, the authorities volition beryllium liable."

Read more:
'Serious questions to answer' implicit information breach, says PM
Guide to the Afghan information breach

25 August 2023

Then defence caput Ben Wallace applies for a tribunal bid aft the MoD gets 2 inquiries astir the breach from journalists.

1 September 2023

High Court grants a super-injunction until a proceeding scheduled for 1 December, preventing the reporting of the breach, arsenic the MoD said the authorities needed 4 months to "do everything it reasonably tin to assistance those who mightiness person been enactment astatine further risk".

23 November 2023

High Court justice Mr Justice Chamberlain gives backstage judgement saying the super-injunction is "is apt to springiness emergence to understandable suspicion that the court's processes are being utilized for the purposes of censorship".

But helium continues it for 4 much weeks, arsenic the MoD has reiterated that the menace to those successful the dataset is "grave".

18 December 2023

MoD lawyers accidental the hazard to beingness owed to the breach is "immensely serious". Mr Justice Chamberlain extends the super-injunction until February 2024.

19 December 2024

The Domestic and Economic Affairs committee meets and says that a caller way of colony successful the UK should beryllium offered to immoderate individuals who were ineligible for ARAP.

At this time, it is agreed to beryllium a targeted cohort of astir 200 radical and their dependents astatine the highest hazard pursuing the breach, and it is called the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR).

The ARR is besides covered by the super-injunction.

15 February 2024

Mr Justice Chamberlain continues the super-injunction, uncovering a "real anticipation that it is serving to protect" immoderate of those identified connected the dataset.

But helium adds: "What is wide is that the authorities has decided to connection assistance to lone a precise tiny proportionality of those whose lives person been endangered by the information incidental and that the decisions successful this respect are being taken without immoderate accidental for scrutiny done the media oregon successful Parliament."

21 May 2024

Mr Justice Chamberlain rules the super-injunction should beryllium lifted successful 21 days, saying determination is simply a "significant possibility" the Taliban already cognize astir the dataset and that it is "fundamentally objectionable" to support it a secret.

25-26 June 2024

The MoD challenges the determination successful the Court of Appeal, which rules that the super-injunction should proceed for the information of those affected by the breach.

In a written ruling, judges Sir Geoffrey Vos, Lord Justice Singh and Lord Justice Warby say: "As the fig of household members progressive is respective times the fig of affected people, the full numbers of radical who would beryllium exposed to a hazard of decease oregon superior harm if the Taliban obtained the information is betwixt 80,000 and 100,000."

4 July 2024

Labour wins the wide election, and Sir Keir Starmer's authorities inherits the scheme. It keeps the super-injunction successful place.

2 February 2025

A reappraisal into the information incidental effect reveals that the ARR's plans would mean relocating much Afghan nationals than the archetypal scheme, and would extremity up costing up to £7bn.

It recommends that the defence caput bid an autarkic reappraisal into the breach and consequent scheme.

19 May 2025

The High Court is told by a Manchester-based instrumentality steadfast that it has much than 600 imaginable clients who whitethorn writer the authorities nether information extortion laws.

4 July 2025

After an autarkic reappraisal by retired civilian servant Paul Rimmer, the authorities tells the High Court that the super-injunction "should nary longer continue".

It comes aft the reappraisal recovered the breach was "unlikely to profoundly alteration the existing hazard profile" of those named and that the authorities perchance "inadvertently added much worth to the dataset" by seeking the unprecedented super-injunction.

15 July 2025

Mr Justice Chamberlain lifts the super-injunction, making the breach and strategy reportable for the archetypal time.

It is revealed that astir 7,000 Afghan nationals either person been oregon are being relocated to the UK arsenic portion of the breach absorption scheme, with the MoD saying it volition outgo astir £850m.

It said the interior authorities papers from February which said the outgo could emergence to £7bn was outdated due to the fact that the authorities had chopped the fig of Afghans it would beryllium relocating.

What happens now?

Some 5,400 Afghans who person already received invitation letters volition beryllium flown to the UK successful the coming weeks. This volition bring the full fig of Afghans affected by the breach being relocated to the UK to 23,900.

The remainder of the affected Afghans volition beryllium near behind, The Times reported.

Around 1,000 Afghans connected the leaked database are preparing to writer the MoD, demanding astatine slightest £50,000 each, successful a associated enactment led by Barings Law.

Adnan Malik, caput of information extortion astatine Barings Law, said: "This is an incredibly superior information breach, which the Ministry of Defence has repeatedly tried to fell from the British public."

Despite the government's interior reappraisal playing down the risks caused by the information breach, Mr Malik said the claimants "continue to unrecorded with the fearfulness of reprisal against them and their families".

The Telegraph has reported that a Whitehall briefing enactment circulated connected 4 July warned that the MoD would request to enactment with the authorities to hole to "mitigate immoderate hazard of nationalist upset pursuing the discharge of the injunction".