In what apparently was an “administrative error,” an employee at Student Finance England inadvertently risked the security of personal information of over 8,000 students, whose emails were made publicly available earlier this week.

The accidental security blunder, for which the agency has extended an apology, resulted in a mass distribution of the emails of students, who have been contacted by the agency and assured that “no other personal” details have been leaked.

The slip-up occurred on Monday when an email, which was sent out by the Student Loans Company to 8,000 people who are scheduled to commence their courses in September, was also accidentally sent to people who has already begun their studies.

Despite the fact that the blunder itself did not appear to be much of an issue, what actually caused concern was the fact that the agency’s staff, by mistake, attached a document which listed the email addresses of all the students on the distribution list.

Noting that the students’ personal information was “sent in error” and that it comprised only email addresses, the Students Loans Company said in a statement that all the affected people had been contacted and informed about the error, and added: “The integrity and security of student accounts and the protection of personal information is vital to us and we apologise to all of the students involved.”