According to a report from the Financial Times, millions of emails associated with the US military have been mistakenly sent to Mali, a West African country allied with Russia, for over 10 years. The error is attributed to a typo, where people mistakenly type .ML, the country identifier for Mali, instead of appending the military’s .MIL domain to the recipient’s email address.
Johannes Zuurbier, a Dutch entrepreneur responsible for managing Mali’s domain, has repeatedly warned the US government about this issue, but it has persisted for over a decade. Upon noticing requests for nonexistent domains like army.ml and navy.ml, Zuurbier attempted to intercept these misdirected emails. However, the system he set up was overwhelmed and stopped collecting messages.
Since January, Zuurbier has intercepted approximately 117,000 misdirected emails, some of which contain sensitive information related to the US military. The emails include medical records, identity document information, staff lists at military bases, photos of military bases, naval inspection reports, ship crew lists, tax records, and more.
Once Zuurbier’s 10-year contract with Mali ends, authorities in Mali will gain access to the intercepted emails. This raises concerns since Russia established a presence in Mali through the Wagner Group, a Russian state-backed paramilitary organization. The US State Department has previously stated that the Wagner Group intended to use Mali as a route to transport war supplies to Ukraine.
The misdirected emails were sent by military staff members, travel agents working with the US military, US intelligence, private contractors, and others. Some emails contained sensitive information, such as travel itineraries, room numbers, and collection details for high-ranking military personnel.
While the Department of Defense (DoD) acknowledges the issue and blocks emails sent from a .mil domain to Mali, it doesn’t prevent other government agencies or those working with the US government from mistakenly sending emails to Malian addresses. The DoD continues to provide direction and training to personnel to address this concern.
As Zuurbier’s contract comes to an end, the handling of these misdirected emails and their potential implications will be transferred to Malian authorities.