It has been reported that a typographical error redirected millions of US military emails, some of which contain highly sensitive information, to Mali. The shocking issue arose from entering .ML instead of .MIL for the recipient’s email domain. Due to such a simple mistake, sensitive information of the US military could potentially be in the hands of the Malian government, which currently has close ties with Russia!
US military intelligence information in wrong hands!
According to reports, a one-letter mistake exposed data such as diplomatic documents, tax returns, passwords, and travel information of high-level officials, among other things. Although the misdirected emails have (so far) reached a staff member responsible for managing Mali’s country domain address, control over .ML will soon revert to the Malian government, which has close ties to Russia.
The “typo leak” was exposed by a Dutch contractor named Johannes Zuurbier, who manages Mali’s country domain address. Zuurbier claims that he has made numerous attempts to alert the United States about the issue since 2014, urging them to take it seriously. However, he adds that none of these attempts were successful.
When the contractor’s term is over, all emails will be handed over to the Malian government. As the contractor’s contract was nearing its end, he made a final attempt to warn the US government. In a letter sent to the US, Zuurbier wrote, “This risk is real and can be exploited by enemies of the United States.” He disclosed that there are approximately 117,000 emails, with about 1,000 more emails received just last Wednesday.
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The sent emails contain highly sensitive information. They include travel plans for General James McConville, the Chief of Staff of the US Army, for his trip to Indonesia in May. Additionally, they contain facility maps, base photographs, identification documents (including passport numbers), ship crew lists, tax and financial records, medical data, naval inspection reports, contracts, and criminal allegations against personnel.
Lieutenant Colonel Tim Gorman, speaking on behalf of the Pentagon, stated that the Department of Defense is “aware of this issue and takes unauthorized disclosures of controlled national security information or controlled unclassified information seriously.” He assured that necessary measures will be taken and emphasized that all US military personnel should feel at ease.
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