Suspect walked out of Swiss intelligence service NDB with stolen data after becoming ‘disgruntled’ with his job
MI6 and CIA both warned secret information could have been compromised
Switzerland’s NDB security procedures now under scrutiny
MI6 intelligence on counter- terrorism operations may have been stolen by a rogue Swiss official, it emerged last night.
Security chiefs in the UK have been warned that hugely sensitive information they provided to the NDB, Switzerland’s spy agency, could have been ‘compromised’.
Hundreds of thousands of pages of classified documents were copied by a senior IT technician for the NDB, which he then copied for himself on to portable storage devices carrying them away in a backpack.
Warned: The Secret Intelligence Service, based in London (pictured), was warned top secret information may have been compromised by the data theft
Swiss officials believe the suspect intended to sell the stolen data and have alerted both MI6 and America’s CIA.
The information was shared between Britain, Switzerland and the United States and the CIA has also been warned about the risk.
The technician, whose name has not been made public, was arrested by Swiss authorities last summer.
He was later released from prison while a criminal investigation by the office of Switzerland’s Federal Attorney General continues.
A European security source said it is believed the IT worker became disgruntled when he felt his advice on operating the data systems was not being taken seriously.
The technician downloaded hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of printed pages of classified material from the Swiss intelligence service’s servers onto portable hard drives.
He then carried them out of government buildings in a backpack.
Investigators now believe warning signs were missed in the months leading to his arrest.
The source said that the suspect became so disgruntled earlier this year that he stopped showing up for work.
Share: MI6, headed by Sir John Sawers, pictured, regularly shares information with the CIA and Swiss intelligence service
He worked for the NDB – or Federal Intelligence Service, which is part of Switzerland’s Defense Ministry – for about eight years.
He was described by one source as a ‘very talented’ technician.
The worker also had ‘administrator rights’, which gave him unrestricted access to most or all of the NDB’s networks, including those holding vast caches of secret data.
Swiss investigators seized portable storage devices containing the stolen data after they arrested the suspect.
The information was impounded before he had an opportunity to sell it.
However, Swiss investigators could not be positive he did not manage to pass any of the information on before his arrest.
Representatives of U.S. and British intelligence agencies had no immediate response to detailed queries about the case submitted by news agency Reuters.
Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber and a senior prosecutor, Carolo Bulletti, announced in September they were investigating the data theft and its alleged perpetrator.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general said she was prohibited by law from disclosing the suspect’s identity.
A spokesman for the NDB said he could not comment on the investigation.
Security procedures and structures at the NDB, which was set up relatively recently, have now come under increased scrutiny.
It conducts both foreign and domestic intelligence activities for the Swiss government.
Danger: The CIA, based in Virginia (pictured), was warned secret information may have been compromised
Human resources staff are currently linked within the organisation to the agency’s information technology division.
This potentially made it difficult or confusing for the subdivision’s personnel to investigate themselves, the source said.
Despite warning signs, Swiss news reports say the NDB did not realise something was amiss until the largest Swiss bank, UBS, expressed concern to authorities about a potentially suspicious attempt to set up a new numbered bank account, which then was traced to the NDB technician.
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By Becky Evans and James Slack
PUBLISHED: 17:23 GMT, 4 December 2012 | UPDATED: 09:01 GMT, 5 December 2012
Find this story at 4 December 2012
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