Afghanistan. Google blocked the accounts of the ousted government employees. The Taliban sought to reach them

Alphabet Inc, which owns Google, partially confirmed Reuters’ information about the account ban. The company said in a statement that it is monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and taking steps to secure vital accounts.

A former government employee told Reuters that the Taliban tried to extract messages from their accounts. The informant said he did not agree to the transfer of access and is currently in hiding.

Access to accounts is synonymous with obtaining information about former administration employees, ministers, contractors, domestic supporters and foreign partners.

Publicly available data shows that there are more than 20 Google email accounts linked to the ousted government, includingin a. With Ministries of Financeindustry and higher education. The president’s office and local authorities also used Google accounts.

As an information security expert evaluated in an interview with Reuters, even getting the list of employees into a Google Sheets file could mean serious problems regarding the oppression that former administration employees faced.

Government organizations have also used Microsoft accounts, incl. in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, it is not known if the company has taken any steps to secure Taliban access, and if so, what. Microsoft declined to comment.