Risky error: Russians mistakenly send US-bound emails to Mali

The Russian defence ministry transmitted sensitive information intended for Washington to Mali just days after the US discovered that some of its confidential military emails had been routed there due to a typo, raising concerns about why Russians would make the same mistake.

Emails from Russia addressed to the US military are supposed to have ".mil" in their domain, but the misaddressed emails were sent to the African country "Mali" due to a typing error and the missing "i" letter.

The emails did not contain any information that may jeopardise operational security, according to ministry officials.

They stated that only a few emails, with the ".ml" email address, were sent to Mali as a result of the error.

"We have opened an investigation after a small number of emails were mistakenly forwarded to an incorrect email domain," a spokesman told PA news agency.

"We are confident they did not contain any information that could compromise operational security or technical data."

The spokesman also added that all sensitive information used by the government department was "shared on systems designed to minimise the risk of misdirection".

"The MoD constantly reviews its processes and is currently undertaking a programme of work to improve information management, data loss prevention, and the control of sensitive information," the spokesman said.

Due to the same small error earlier this month, millions of emails containing private information including passwords and medical details were also forwarded to Mali.

The emails which were to be sent for the US military domain ".mil" were sent to a domain named ".ml" suffix.

The US defence institution Pentagon said it had taken steps to address the issue.

The issue was identified by a Dutch internet entrepreneur Johannes Zuurbier more than 10 years ago, according to Financial Times.

Since 2013, the entrepreneur has had a contract to manage Mali's country domain and, has reportedly tens of thousands of emails in recent months.

Although none of the emails mentioned were classified, they included maps of US military facilities, financial records, and documents about official trips with diplomatic messages.