Inflite The Jet Centre

Summary

Inflite The Jet Centre, a subcontractor providing ground‑handling services at London Stansted airport, experienced a cyber‑security incident in which unauthorized access was gained to email accounts containing personal data. The exposed information included names, passport details (name, date of birth, passport number) and Arap reference numbers for up to 3,700 individuals, among them Afghans resettled in the UK, British military personnel and former Conservative government ministers. Inflite stated the breach was limited to email accounts, reported it to the Information Commissioner’s Office, and said there is no evidence the data has been released publicly.

Motives

Detailed motive labels are available to members.

TTPs

Detailed technique labels are available to members.

Description

Inflite The Jet Centre, which provides ground‑handling services for flights at London Stansted airport, experienced a cyber‑security incident that was reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office in mid‑August 2025. The company stated that the breach involved unauthorised access to a small number of its email accounts that contained basic personal information and that it believed the scope of the incident was limited to those email accounts only. Upon discovering the incident, Inflite reported it to the ICO, which confirmed receipt of the report, and the Ministry of Defence was subsequently notified that a third‑party sub‑contractor to a supplier had suffered the cyber security event. The government communicated that the incident had not posed any threat to individuals’ safety nor compromised any government systems and said there was currently no evidence that any data had been released publicly. An email was sent by the Afghan resettlement team to warn potentially affected families that personal information, including passport details such as name, date of birth and passport number, and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy reference numbers, may have been exposed. Inflite issued a statement reiterating its belief that the breach was confined to email accounts and noting that it had reported the matter to the ICO.

The data potentially compromised pertained to up to 3,700 Afghans who had travelled to the United Kingdom between January and March 2024 under a resettlement scheme for those who had worked with British troops, and the notification also indicated that British military personnel and former Conservative government ministers were among those whose information could have been involved. The breach revived concerns reminiscent of a February 2022 incident in which the personal data of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to move to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme was mistakenly leaked by a British official, an event that was first made public in July of that year. In response to the August 2025 breach, Professor Sara de Jong of the Sulha Alliance charity described the situation as astonishing and expressed worry for the safety of Afghans who had assisted British forces, while the son of a member of the Afghan ‘Triples’ elite special forces, whose family faced deportation after their details were exposed in the earlier breach, pleaded for government assistance to prevent possible harm. Officials such as former UK national security adviser Sir Mark Lyall Grant called both breaches deeply embarrassing for the British government and urged faster action to protect those at risk, former Conservative Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng labelled the incidents very serious and really concerning for people facing deportation, and Liberal Democrat Defence Spokesperson Helen Maguire accused the government of staggering incompetence and inadequate security standards, demanding an immediate, fully independent investigation into the security failures. The Ministry of Defence reiterated that it was honouring commitments to all eligible individuals who pass the required security and entry checks for relocation, noting that in some cases applicants do not satisfy those checks.

Sources

Sources available to members: 1 source.