Exclusive-Google locks Afghan government accounts as Taliban seek emails - source WASHINGTON Reuters - Google has temporarily locked down an unspecified number of Afghan government email accounts, according to a person familiar with the matter, as fears grow over the digital paper trail left by former officials and their international partners.
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In a statement on Friday, Alphabet Inc. stopped short of verifying that the Afghan government accounts were being blocked, saying that the company was monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and taking temporary steps to secure relevant accounts. One former government employee told Reuters that the Taliban are seeking to acquire former officials' emails.
Late last month the employee said that the Taliban had asked him to preserve the data gathered on the servers of the ministry he used to work for.
If I do so, then they will get access to the data and official communications of the previous ministry leadership, the employee said.
The employee said he did not comply and has since gone into hiding. Reuters is not identified the man or his former ministry of concern for his safety.
Publicly available fax exchanger records show that some two dozen Afghan government bodies have used Google's servers to handle official emails, including the ministries of finance, industry, higher education, and mines. Afghanistan's office of local security protocol also used Google, according to the records, as did some Presidential government bodies.
Commandeering government databases and emails could provide information about military personnel, ex-ministers, government contractors, tribal allies and foreign partners.
It would give a real wealth of information, said Chad Anderson, a security researcher with DomainTools who helped Reuters identify which ministries ran which email platform. Even just having an employee list on Google Sheets is a big problem, he said, citing reports of reprisals against government workers.
Mail exchanger records show that Microsoft Corp email services were also used by several Afghan government agencies including the ministry of foreign affairs and the presidency. This is not clear what steps, if any, the software firm is taking to prevent data from falling into the hands of the Taliban.
Anderson said the Taliban's attempt to control U.S. digital infrastructure was worth keeping an eye on. Intelligence drawn from that infrastructure, he said, may be far more valuable to a fledgling government than old helicopters.