Poland: huge military data leak has only public information

Poland’s Defense Ministry said Friday that a massive leak from a military equipment database includes only publicly available information and is not harmful.

The ministry said that the database found online is a list from a body responsible for making purchases for Poland’s military.

“We want to stress that the publication of the data does not mean any danger to the state’s security or to the functioning of Poland’s Armed Forces,” the ministry said in a statement, adding there was no breach of IT system security.

In preliminary findings , it blamed the leak on negligence by an employee of the inspectorate responsible for the purchases.

However, the opposition called for the dismissal of the defense minister in the right-wing government.

The Onet.pl news portal said that files with almost 1.8 million records listing Polish Armed Forces’ assets — from notebooks to armaments and F-16 fighter jets — made it into the public sphere on Sunday. It said the source of the leak could be at a military inspectorate in Bydgoszcz, in central Poland, responsible for supplying the military.

Onet.pl said that according to its informants the database has been uploaded by users in other countries including in China and in Russia.

It said the database draws a picture of the assets that Poland’s armed forces had or needed in September and the condition of the equipment.