Last year WikiLeaks began releasing a tranche of US diplomatic cables, which were redacted to protect sources. However, a file is now circulating on the internet which contains the unedited documents, which could put a number of individuals in danger.
According to German newspaper Der Spiegel the blunder happened after Julian Assange's ex-lieutenant Daniel Domscheit-Berg returned the encrypted file containing the sensitive documents.
Daniel Domscheit-Berg took the files after leaving the whistleblowing site. WikiLeaks supporters then released a copy of the data collection when the files were returned, unaware that it contained the original cables. The password was later accidentally made available earlier this year. The slip-up remained undetected for several months, said the paper.
But in a Tweet, WikiLeaks said: "There has been no WikiLeaks error. There has been a grossly negligent mainstream media error, to put it generously."
This story was first published by Computer Weekly