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Counter terrorism and security documents leaked

The Sunday Telegraph has found that hundreds of sensitive Cabinet Office and Home Office documents have been accidentally leaked online.

An investigation by the newspaper revealed internal Whitehall files on how to obtain security passes to government buildings and details of communications with MI5 and counter terrorism officials have been accessible on Google for up to four years.

Representing a ‘clear failure of common, basic security’, cyber security experts say that the leaks, which originate from an online tool called Trello, contained exactly what criminals look for when trying to infiltrate organisations.

The Sunday Telegraph says that the government’s misuse of Trello has exposed details on the development of its counter terror reporting tool, steps on how to obtain a government building pass and internal emails. Therefore, the report says that hackers could find out that a named Home Office employee spoke to a named person at MI5 on a particular date about counter terrorism.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We take data protection very seriously, and impress upon all government departments to exercise best practice and implement suitable measures to ensure data is secure when using platforms such as Trello boards.”

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