UK Special Forces’ Names Accidentally Exposed Online for Over a Decade

The names of active members of the United Kingdom’s secret special forces were accidentally made publicly available online for more than a decade through two publications linked to the British Army, The Sunday Times reported.

Due to a significant breach of security protocol, the names and ranks of at least 20 elite British special forces personnel were accessible in documents published online.

The last update to these publications took place just a few months ago, suggesting that some of the soldiers could have been involved in current operations. The latest update exposed the connection of 13 soldiers to special forces units.

The Sunday Times, whose journalists discovered the leak of information, refrained from disclosing details about the publications themselves to protect the soldiers. After the editorial team notified the Ministry of Defense, the publications were removed from access within hours, and personnel were informed and protected.

Although the documents did not explicitly name the units, they included the soldiers’ names alongside code names used to designate special forces and operations. These code names are publicly available online and well-known within military circles.

Some of the named individuals were likely in support roles — positions also considered classified — while others were active combatants. Several of the soldiers are noted to have distinguished military careers, and one is the son of a senior politician, the report outlines.

One of the documents had been available for over 10 years, revealing 14 names, while the other had been accessible for four years and contained six names.

The breach follows an incident earlier this year. In March, the Ministry of Defence launched an urgent investigation after a football fan found stacks of classified military documents scattered across a street in northern England.

The documents — some marked “OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE” — spilled out of a black bin bag onto a road in Newcastle. “I peered down and started to see names on bits of papers, and numbers, and I thought, ‘What’s that?’” Mike Hibbard, who discovered the documents while walking to a football match in the city on March 16, shared.

The torn papers contained soldiers’ ranks, emails, duty rosters, weapons issuance records, and access codes for military facilities. One sheet was labeled “Armshouse Keys and Storage Access Codes.”

The documents are believed to be linked to Catterick Garrison, Britain’s largest army base.