The Australian Immigration Department mistakenly leaked the personal details of 31 world leaders attending the G-20 summit last year, including those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama, a report said on Monday.
The Prime Minister’s Office in India chose not to react to the news. But a senior government official said, “We have seen the report and will take necessary action at our end on the matter.”
According to British newspaper Guardian, the passport numbers, visa details and other personal identifiers of all world leaders attending the summit in Brisbane last November was ‘accidentally’ sent to the organisers of the Asian Cup football tournament.
The report said that officials apparently decided to keep the breach a secret.
Australia’s immigration department confirmed there had been a data breach, but gave no details and did not say whether the world leaders had been informed.
Leaders at the summit included Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“The breach was immediately referred to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,” a spokeswoman for Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection said in a statement. “It was deleted by the recipient and was not distributed further.”
{{/usCountry}}“The breach was immediately referred to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,” a spokeswoman for Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection said in a statement. “It was deleted by the recipient and was not distributed further.”
{{/usCountry}}The Australian immigration spokeswoman said the department had reviewed and strengthened its email protocols to limit and contain future breaches.