British soldier nude photo blackmail case in Estonia, Digi Mart USA News (Tapa, Estonia): A British soldier was hacked and blackmailed over nude photos on his phone after disobeying an order to remove his SIM card while on a NATO exercise near the Russian border, according to a publisher report.
Daniel Barton-Kennedy, 28, was sentenced to ten months in military prison after hackers accessed the photos, identified him on social media, and demanded £350. The hackers’ identities remain unknown.
Court documents noted that Barton-Kennedy, a corporal with the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Lancaster Regiment, was stationed in an area “subject to significant interest from Russian intelligence services.” His unit left Hull on 7 January to take part in Exercise Eastern Warrior in Tapa, Estonia, about 80 miles from the Russian border.
Court documents show the unit was told as it left the UK to switch off location settings and use a trusted virtual private network on all personal electronic devices. The policy was designed to reduce the risk of deployed personnel inadvertently revealing the location of military personnel or equipment, training patterns or readiness activities, according to the battalion’s intelligence officer, Captain Farthing, as quoted in court documents.
On 19 January, Barton-Kennedy told his platoon commander he had received messages from an unknown party who had obtained nude photographs from his mobile phone and identified him on social media. He had already made one payment of £100 “to buy himself some time in the hope the messages would stop,” but received a further demand for £250.
Court documents said he was “bombarded with messages” and in a “state of shock.”
At a Military Court Centre at Catterick Garrison, Barton-Kennedy pleaded guilty to disobedience to a lawful command. He was sentenced to 10 months’ service detention and reduced in rank from corporal to lance corporal.
An appeal against the length of the sentence was later dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
It was not known whether the phone was compromised by criminals or by a foreign intelligence agency, according to the court martial. Court of Appeal judges wrote that the fact that a connected mobile phone could be used to locate a military unit in Estonia, close to the Russian border, “is a factor which makes this a very serious offence.”
Military expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army colonel and tank commander, said Barton-Kennedy was “a classic person to manipulate” and that the vulnerability was greater in the current environment. He said Russia routinely seeks personal vulnerabilities to exploit and expected Army chiefs to strengthen checks on personnel as a result.
The case comes amid growing concern about Russian cyberespionage and sabotage. Sir Richard Knighton, head of the UK military, warned in the Financial Times over the weekend that Moscow’s “appetite” for risk had “quite clearly grown.”
An Army spokesperson said: “The Army implements specific security measures on deployments to ensure the safety of our personnel and protect mission success. Any breaches of Army security measures that might compromise personal safeguarding or operational security will be dealt with swiftly, and offending personnel can expect uncompromising disciplinary action.”
