BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 15:  United States' President Barack Obama walks with Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and United Kingdom's Prime Minister David Cameron as they leave A Call to Country performance on November 15, 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. World leaders have gathered in Brisbane for the annual G20 Summit and are expected to discuss economic growth, free trade and climate change as well as pressing issues including the situation in Ukraine and the Ebola crisis.  (Photo by Steve Christo/G20 Australia via Getty Images)
World leaders' passport details released
01:59 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

An Australian immigration official mistakenly sent personal details of leaders at the G20

The data was immediately destroyed by the recipient, an organizer of the Asian Cup soccer tournament

The G20 summit was held in Brisbane, Australia in November

CNN  — 

Personal details including the passport numbers of U.S. President Barack Obama and 19 other world leaders at last year’s G20 summit were inadvertently released by Australia’s immigration department, British newspaper the Guardian reported Monday.

An official mistakenly sent the passport, visa and other details of all leaders at the summit to local organizers of the Asian Cup football tournament, which was held in Australia in January, the newspaper reported.

The recipient immediately destroyed the data and the information was not distributed further, a spokesman for Australia’s Department of Immigration and Border Protection told CNN.

Besides Obama, world leaders at the summit, held in the Australian city of Brisbane in November, included Russian President Vladimir Putin, China’s President Xi Jinping, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron, among others.

A spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection told CNN in a statement that the “breach was immediately referred to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.”

“The Department has reviewed and strengthened its email protocols to limit and contain future breaches.”
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