British soldier court-martialed after ignoring order to remove SIM card, leading to sextortion
A British corporal faced a court-martial plea after ignoring orders to remove his SIM card in Estonia, allowing hackers to sextort him with stolen explicit p...
POLICY WIRE — Tapa, Estonia — A British Army corporal has pleaded guilty at a court-martial after disregarding explicit instructions to remove the SIM card from his mobile device prior to deploying in a sensitive military exercise near the Russian frontier.
The incident involved Daniel Barton-Kennedy, a corporal serving with the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Lancaster Regiment. He was participating in Exercise Eastern Warrior in Tapa, a location situated roughly 90 miles west of Russia’s border.
Despite being told repeatedly to secure his devices, Barton-Kennedy failed to comply with the directive to extract his SIM card before entering the deployment zone.
While stationed in Estonia, attackers gained unauthorized access to the phone and retrieved nude photographs stored on the device. The perpetrators then used these images to blackmail the soldier into paying money.
Barton-Kennedy initially agreed to pay the demand of 100 British pounds, which equates to approximately $133. However, he refused to comply when the attackers increased their demand to 250 British pounds, or about $333.
It was only after rejecting the second payment request that the soldier reported the extortion scheme to his platoon commander. The case ultimately proceeded to a legal hearing where the incident was formally adjudicated.
During the court-martial proceedings held on July 30, Barton-Kennedy entered a plea of guilty. The details of the violation were first brought to wider attention by an Estonian newspaper, which highlighted the security breach resulting from the ignored orders.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
