In 2010, WikiLeaks provided The Guardian with encrypted, unredacted files containing the names of informants and other sensitive sources connected to classified U.S. military disclosures. The material was protected by a passphrase intended to prevent public access. David Leigh’s book, WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy, published in February 2011, printed that passphrase. The password was subsequently circulated, and the encrypted files became publicly accessible; WikiLeaks later released the unredacted version so people named in the documents could determine what had been exposed.
The episode created a serious source-protection failure, although the source does not establish that publication of the password caused any deaths. The Guardian rejected that accusation, arguing that WikiLeaks had described the password as temporary and had roughly seven months to secure the files before releasing them. The incident also exposed internal and editorial disputes over whether WikiLeaks had adequately redacted Afghan informants’ names. Claims that Julian Assange said informants “deserve to die” were disputed by Der Spiegel journalist John Goetz in an affidavit, while Channel 4 defended its account. The lasting consequence was heightened scrutiny of WikiLeaks’ handling of confidential data and of journalistic safeguards surrounding classified-source disclosures.
