The Data Left Behind

Politico: “American forces and diplomats rushed to destroy their own records on Afghan citizens as they departed, but the rapid takeover of Kabul left large stores of data open for exploitation inside Afghan businesses and government offices. That gives today’s technologically adept Taliban tools to target Afghans who worked with the U.S. or the deposed Afghan government with unprecedented precision, increasing the danger for those who don’t get out on evacuation flights.”

“Much of the attention has been on the race to scrub data off the internet … But those efforts don’t touch the huge collections of data sitting in Kabul. Take call logs. Telecommunications companies keep a record of nearly every phone call placed and to whom.”