Shell’s directory leak shouldn’t be taken lightly
Royal Dutch Shell has suffered a serious breach of security after contact details for more than 170,000 employees and contractors were e-mailed to environmental and human rights campaign groups.
The database, from Shell’s internal directory, gives names and telephone numbers for all the company’s workforce worldwide, including some home numbers used for business. The e-mail was ostensibly sent by disaffected staff calling for a “peaceful corporate revolution” at the company.
The database was e-mailed with a 170-page covering note, explaining that it was being circulated by “116 concerned employees of Shell Oil dispersed throughout the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands”, to highlight the harm allegedly done by the company’s operations in Nigeria.
