UK spy agency unable to account for thousands of missing storage drives
Britain's GCHQ has lost track of a substantial quantity of removable storage devices containing sensitive intelligence data, with officials still unable to determine how many drives have gone missing or where they are.
The UK's Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO) has raised alarms over what it describes as "a very significant number" of storage drives belonging to the General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) that have vanished and remain unaccounted for. The missing devices, which number in the thousands, have been absent for years, yet GCHQ leadership has struggled to grasp the full extent of the disappearances, according to reporting by The Register.
The problem has been on GCHQ's radar for some time, but the intelligence agency has not made sufficient progress in understanding what was lost. Lord Brian Leveson, the investigatory powers commissioner, expressed his frustration in a report, stating: "I remain concerned that GCHQ has not yet established a sufficiently clear understanding of the scale, location, and recoverability of lost removable media that may contain IPA-related data, notwithstanding that the underlying issues were first drawn to my attention several years ago. While I recognize the technical and practical challenges involved, the passage of time without a comprehensive account heightens the importance of sustained senior focus and assured remediation. Given the potential sensitivity of the material involved, I will continue to monitor progress closely."