Decade-Long Typo Error Leads To Millions Of Sensitive US Military Emails In Russian Inbox

A decade-long “typo leak” has resulted in millions of US military emails being misdirected to Mali, potentially exposing sensitive information, Financial Times reports.

The issue arises from people mistyping .MIL, the suffix for all US military email addresses, as .ML, the country identifier for Mali.

Johannes Zuurbier, a Dutch internet entrepreneur who manages Mali’s country domain, first identified the problem almost ten years ago. Despite his repeated warnings, the flow of misdirected emails continues.

“This risk is real and could be exploited by adversaries of the US,” Zuurbier warned in a letter to the US in early July.

On Monday, control of the .ML domain was reverted from Zuurbier to Mali’s government, which is closely allied with Russia. The emails, while not marked as classified, contain highly sensitive data on serving U.S. military personnel, contractors, and their families.

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Retired American admiral Mike Rogers noted that even unclassified information can generate intelligence if accessed over a sustained period. The Pentagon has acknowledged the issue and stated that it takes all unauthorized disclosures of controlled national security information or controlled unclassified information seriously.

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