Taliban Email Fail: Spokesman Reveals Entire Mailing List In ‘CC’ Box

A spokesman for the Taliban made a mistake when he accidentally sent out a press release using “CC” for all of the emails instead of “BCC.”

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmedi emailed a press release last week, which is not unusual since they send out press releases a few time a week, reports The Huffington Post.

What is strange, however, is that Ahmedi sent a carbon copy (CC) that exposed all 400 email addresses on the Taliban’s email list, instead of using a blind carbon copy (BCC).

Thankfully for the Taliban, nothing too scandalous was revealed by the error. But at least one journalist on the list was unhappy his contact email was made visible on the Taliban list. Journalist Mustafa Kazemi, based in Afghanistan, tweeted:

“Taliban have included all 4 of my email addresses on the leaked distribution list of 500 email addresses. Quite reassuring to my safety.”

ABC News notes that the list is mainly of journalists, but there are also addresses that appear to belong to a provincial governor, an Afghan legislator, several academics and activists, an Afghan consultative committee, and also a representative of Gulbuddein Hekmatar (an Afghan warlord whose group is connected to several attacks against coalition forces).

The Taliban have been known to routinely send out press releases to their mailing list. They often claim responsibility for attacks against Afghan and/or coalition forces. They also tend to exaggerate casualty figures.

This email was originally sent from another Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, then was forwarded through Ahmedi, who accidentally disclosed all 400 plus emails. Next time he will likely make sure that everyone on the email list is under “BCC,” not “CC.”