London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Ministry of Defence secrets exposed by people sending files to personal email accounts, documents show

Ministry of Defence secrets exposed by people sending files to personal email accounts, documents show

There were a record number of security incidents across the UK defence industry last year, heavily redacted documents reveal.

Secret information belonging to the Ministry of Defence was exposed to hostile states when it was transferred from secure networks to personal email accounts, Sky News has learnt.

Although documents obtained by Sky News were redacted to obscure the nature of the secret information, they reveal a record number of security breaches in 2020 originating from the British military's private sector partners.

The rising number of security incidents raises questions about the UK's resilience to foreign espionage ahead of the government unveiling its Integrated Review on Tuesday, which will set out the strategic direction of Britain's defence and security apparatus.


The redacted documents show that a total of 151 incidents were filed with the MoD's defence industry Warning, Advice and Reporting Point (WARP) in 2020, compared with just 75 in 2019.

"Every government contractor that processes MOD information is obliged to report security incidents to the Defence Industry WARP," explains a new page on gov.uk published last month.

Although the substance and outcome of these incidents is obscured, many of the records in the documents obtained by Sky News are followed by multiple paragraphs of redacted explanation, including numerous incidents when information was sent to personal email accounts."

Hostile states are known to target the personal email accounts of politicians and defence officials. Russian hackers allegedly stole secret trade deal papers from the personal email account of then cabinet minister Liam Fox ahead of the 2019 election.

The most extensive report, filed on 1 May 2020, runs several pages long and related to "data sent to unauthorised domain" - potentially indicating a phishing attack.

Two incidents in April were considered so sensitive that even the dates they occurred on were redacted.

Other incidents include potential compromises to MoD owned systems, a breach of a perimeter fence at an undisclosed location, infrastructure being misconfigured, and in one case missile containers being available for sale.

A spokesperson for the MoD said: "The MoD takes the security of its personnel, systems and establishments very seriously and continually seek to improve security incident reporting.

"We have recently introduced policy, processes and tools to make internal and external reporting easier and more efficient, and the increase in reports can be largely attributed to these improvements."

The incidents raise questions about the UK's resilience to cyber spies.


Cyber attacks reported to the MoD and to the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, a part of GCHQ, are not referred to other regulators as a matter of course.

Businesses within the defence sector that lose personal data in a cyber attack are obliged to inform the data regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office, but this is not the case if non-personal state secrets are compromised.

Publicly listed companies are expected to inform the Financial Conduct Authority about any material incidents, including cyber attacks, whether personal data is lost or not.

The government's long-awaited Integrated Review - billed as the most significant strategic overhaul of the UK's foreign, defence, security and aid policy since the Cold War - is due to be launched on Tuesday.

In a sign of the likely political clashes ahead, the Conservative chair of the Defence Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood, warned ministers not to overlook the need to bolster existing military capabilities, telling Sky News: "We drop our guard on the conventional side at our peril."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×