In September, 2022, The New York Times accidentally exposed the apparent phone numbers of Russian soldiers as well as the apparent civilian family members they were speaking to.
A report published by Motherboard (Tech by Vice) reported that some of these people were not only providing frank assessment of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war but also criticism of their superiors including the President. Besides, the exposure potentially puts the people at risk of reprisal from their own government and other third parties.
The news highlights not only the risks phones pose in wartime, but also the security hazards that can be posed by journalists handling leaked information.
When Motherboard contacted, the Times initially said that it took steps to delete the metadata but failed to scrub several audio files. It said that the metadata was up for only a "few hours.”
“Before publication, we worked to remove identifying information from the story. We later learned that some buried metadata was live on the site for a few hours, and took prompt steps to remove it,” Charlie Stadtlander, director, external communications, newsroom, at the New York Times initially told Motherboard in a statement.