14 DAY TRIAL // Secrets spilling website WikiLeaks has lost a copy of the unredacted U.S. diplomatic cables, possibly exposing US agents in Israel, Jordan and Iran.
According to German newspaper Der Spiegel, when former WikiLeaks spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg left the whistleblowing organization in September 2010 together with other people, they took a cache of documents from the organization's server.
One of these files was a password-protected copy of the US diplomatic cables, and was later returned to WikiLeaks in December 2010 together with some other documents.
The organization later started working on redacting the files and publishing excerpts together with its media partners.
As part of this process, Assange gave the password to the files to an an external contact and that individual made the password public back in spring.
Normally this wouldn't be a problem without access to the file, however, it turns out that a copy of the original cables was inadvertently included in a hidden folder in an archive of already published documents released by WikiLeaks members onto the Internet.
The fact that both the original files and the password to access them were available on the online for months was not known until Daniel Domscheit-Berg used it as argument to show that WikiLeaks is incapable of protecting its sources.
The original files contain sensitive information about the identity of US agents in various countries including Israel, Jordan and Iran and could possibly endanger their lives.
WikiLeaks does not take responsibility for this leak. "There has been no 'leak at WikiLeaks'. The issue relates to a mainstream media partner and a malicious individual," the organization said.
Domscheit-Berg and other former WikiLeaks members are building a rival website called OpenLeaks that will serve as intermediary between sources and media publications.