MILLIONS of US military emails have been mistakenly sent to Mali, a Russian ally, because of a minor typing error.
Emails intended for the US military’s “.mil” domain have, for years, been sent to the west African country which ends with the “.ml” suffix.
Some of the emails reportedly contained sensitive information such as passwords, medical records and the itineraries of top officers.
The Pentagon said it had taken steps to address the issue.
According to the Financial Times, which first reported the story, Dutch internet entrepreneur Johannes Zuurbier identified the problem more than 10 years ago.
Since 2013, he has had a contract to manage Mali’s country domain and, in recent months, has reportedly collected tens of thousands of misdirected emails.
None were marked as classified, but, according to the newspaper, they included medical data, maps of US military facilities, financial records and the planning documents for official trips as well as some diplomatic messages.
Mr Zuurbier wrote a letter to US officials this month to raise the alarm. He said that his contract with the Mali government was due to finish soon, meaning “the risk is real and could be exploited by adversaries of the US”.
Mali’s military government was due to take control of the domain on Monday.
Mr Zuurbier has been approached for comment.
US military communications that are marked “classified” and “top secret” are transmitted through separate IT systems that make it unlikely they will be accidently compromised, according to current and former US officials.
But Steven Stransky, a lawyer who previously served as senior counsel to the Department of Homeland Security’s Intelligence Law Division, said that even seemingly harmless information could prove useful to US adversaries, particularly if it included details of individual personnel.
“Those sorts of communications would mean that a foreign actor can start building dossiers on our own military personnel, for espionage purposes, or could try to get them to disclose information in exchange for financial benefit,” Mr Stransky said. “It’s certainly information that a foreign government can use.”