An Estonian newspaper recently revealed that a British soldier disobeyed a direct order to remove the SIM card from his cellphone before being deployed to a part of Estonia, approximately 90 miles west of the Russian border. As a result of his refusal to engage in this element of operational security (opsec), the soldier, Daniel Barton-Kennedy, had his phone hacked, and nude photos of himself were stolen and used as blackmail against him. Eventually, Barton-Kennedy was court-martialed for disobeying a lawful command, pled guilty, was reduced in rank, and ordered to serve 10 months in detention.
DEVELOPING
British soldier ignored order to pull his SIM card, then got blackmailed
An Estonian newspaper recently revealed that a British soldier disobeyed a direct order to remove the SIM card from his cellphone before being deployed to a...
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Key Developments & Executive Summary
- Primary Wire Report: An Estonian newspaper recently revealed that a British soldier disobeyed a direct order to remove the SIM card from his cellphone before being deployed to a...
- Desk & Verification: Normalized under Technology desk via Ars Technica.
- Classification Status: DEVELOPING wire dispatches verified against institutional sources.
C
Cyrus Farivar
ContributorContributing Reporter via Ars Technica
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Format: DEVELOPING
Retrieved / Published: Nov 7, 2026, 11:00 AM UTC
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