Security News > 2022 > March > UK Ministry of Defence takes recruitment system offline, confirms data leak

The UK Ministry of Defence has suspended online application and support services for the British Army's Capita-run Defence Recruitment System and confirmed to us that digital intruders compromised some data held on would-be soldiers.

The extent and method of the attack remains under investigation by the MoD and Capita.

Under the contract, Capita was in charge of running recruitment operations, including marketing, processing applications and handling the candidate assessment centres.

Online recruitment was due to launch in July 2013 but the MoD "Failed to meet contractual obligations to provide the infrastructure to host Capita's recruitment software," said a National Audit Office report [PDF] in 2019.

"The shortfall each year has ranged from 21 per cent to 45 per cent of the Army's requirement. In 2017-18, Capita recruited 6,948 fewer regular and reserve soldiers and officers than the Army needed. Capita missed the Army's annual target for recruiting regular soldiers by an average of 30 per cent over the first five years of the contract, compared with a 4 per cent shortfall in the two years before Capita started."

"If the Army decides to continue using the system, it will have to pay Capita for a licence. However, if the application is not suitable for modification, the Army will need to buy or develop a new recruitment system after the contract with Capita ends."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/03/24/ministry_of_defence/