Secret Taliban records published online after hackers breach computer systems

The Taliban government of Afghanistan is reeling after unidentified hackers successfully carried out a massive cyber attack against its computer systems and published over 50GB of stolen documents and files online.

A group calling itself TabiLeaks publicised on social media links to the haul of information it had exfiltrated from 21 Taliban ministries and government agencies.

The leaked records included claims that the Taliban has imprisoned over 1400 women, and 16,000 men. Approximately 80 foreign nationals (including six women) are also said to be being held in Taliban prisons.

According to the leaked data, travel restrictions have been placed on over 8,000 former government workers, banning them from leaving Afghanistan, and Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has banned overseas academic travel without his direct authorisation.

TalibLeaks says that all of the exfiltrated files were taken in the past 12 months, and come from compromised Taliban government networks.

The leak website, which is not hosted on the dark web, claims to offer information hacked from the Afghan Food & Drug Administration, Afghan Telecom Regulatory Authority, the Deputy PM for Economic Affairs, Ministry of Communications & Technology, Ministry of Energy & Water, Ministry of Industry & Commerce, Ministry of Mines & Petroleum, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Refugees, Macrorayan Repairing & Maintenance Corporation, National Statistics and Information Authority, Office of Prison Affairs, Strategic Affairs Office, Technical Vocation & Training Authority, Ministry of Propagation of Virtue & Preventing Vice, and the Supreme Court.

Phew! That's quite a list.

The leaked documents revealed that the Taliban's Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had carried out comprehensive studies on enforcing the hijab and religious policing across 12 provinces. According to the report, Taliban officials have examined foreign organisations working in Bamiyan Province, alleging that they are promoting Western cultural values.

In a caustic note, the hackers posted on Twitter that "GDPR does not apply in Afghanistan, just like there are no womens rights."

Whilst confirming that documents from multiple government departments had been leaked by the hackers, Taliban's Ministry of Communications claimed that most of the files had been publicly accessible for years and that ""no system has been hacked, all systems remain secure, and there are no issues."

Taliban spokespeople went on to claim that the leak was an attempt to manipulate public opinion via the media.