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Insider report: Google banned Afghan government mail accounts

2021-09-04T11:47:22.632Z


After taking power in Kabul, the Taliban are trying to take over the IT structures of the former Afghan government. But this is met with resistance - including from Google.


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Photo: Charles Platiau / REUTERS

After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, according to an insider, Google temporarily blocked a number of the previous Kabul government's e-mail accounts.

A former employee of an Afghan ministry told Reuters that the Taliban were trying to get emails from the previous administration, which had been supported by the US.

The Taliban had asked him to back up data stored on the ministry server, said the former government official.

He did not obey this and went into hiding.

Reuters did not publish the man's name for his protection.

Google said the company is monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and is taking measures to protect relevant accounts.

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Publicly available data on e-mail shows that around two dozen government agencies in Afghanistan have used Google's servers for e-mail, including ministries of finance, industry, academia and mining. Accordingly, the protocol office of the Afghan President also used Google, as did some authorities. "That would be a treasure trove of information," said Chad Anderson, an expert at Internet security firm DomainTools. "Just a list of employees on a Google Sheet is a big problem," he said, referring to reports of reprisals against previous Afghan government employees.

The data also shows that Microsoft's e-mail services were also used by several Afghan government agencies, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President's Office.

However, it is unclear whether the software company will take steps to prevent data from falling into the hands of the Taliban.

Microsoft declined to comment.

Anderson said he considered the US-built IT infrastructure to be an important factor for the Taliban.

Information stored there is "probably much more valuable to a new government than old helicopters."

him / Reuters

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-09-04

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