World leaders’ personal details accidentally leaked

PERSONAL details of every world leader attending the Brisbane G20 summit were accidentally leaked by Australia’s immigration department, and they were kept in the dark about it.

epa04129211 (FILE) A file picture dated 18 June 2012 shows US President Barack Obama (R) talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) during their meeting at Esperansa hotel prior G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico. More than 95 per cent of Crimeans voted for the Ukrainian region's accession to Russia in a controversial referendum on 16 March, according to preliminary results. The White House on 16 March 2014 said that President Obama told his Russian counterpart that the US would not recognize the Crimean vote as it violated the Ukrainian constitution. Furthermore, the US were 'prepared to impose additional costs on Russia for its actions.' EPA/ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/RIA NOVOSTI/KREMLIN POOL *** Local Caption *** 50394581

PERSONAL details of every world leader attending the Brisbane G20 summit were accidentally leaked by Australia’s immigration department, and they were kept in the dark about it, The Guardian reports.

The passport numbers and visa details of leaders, along with other personal details of leaders including US president Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin were reportedly passed on to organisers of the Asian Cup football tournament in an email.

German chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese president Xi Jinping and British PM David Cameron’s details were all exposed in an email sent by an employee of the Australian Immigration Department.

The privacy breach occurred in November last year and the Australian Privacy Commissioner was contacted by the agency seeking advice.

British PM David Cameron’s details were accidentally leaked.

In an email marked “URGENT”, obtained by the Guardian, the commissioner was informed of the breach, caused by “human error”.

“The personal information which has been breached is the name, date of birth, title, position nationality, passport number, visa grant number and visa subclass held relating to 31 international leaders (ie prime ministers, presidents and their equivalents) attending the G20 leaders summit,” the officer wrote.

“The cause of the breach was human error. [Redacted] failed to check that the autofill function in Microsoft Outlook had entered the correct person’s details into the email ‘To’ field.

“This led to the email being sent to the wrong person.”

The email trail reveals the commission recommended the world leaders not be informed of the breach.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also part of the breach.