Due to a small typing error, millions of emails from the US military were unintentionally forwarded to Mali, a Russian ally.
For years, emails meant for the US military’s “.mil” domain have been transmitted to the west African nation with the “.ml” extension.
According to reports, some of the emails contained private information including passwords, medical information, and high officers’ travel schedules.
The Pentagon claimed to have taken action to resolve the situation.
The Financial Times, which broke the story, claims that Dutch internet entrepreneur Johannes Zuurbier discovered the issue more than ten years ago.
He has held a contract to handle Mali’s national domain since 2013 and has apparently collected tens of thousands of misdirected emails in recent months.
None were tagged as classified, but they included medical data, maps of US military bases, financial records, and planning documents for official trips, as well as some diplomatic letters, according to the newspaper.
This article has been indexed from CySecurity News – Latest Information Security and Hacking Incidents
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