Top secret hard drive has been missing for six months at Ministry of Defence site

A hard drive classed ‘top secret’ remains unaccounted for after being recorded as going missing six months ago at a Ministry of Defence (MoD) site, a newly-released file shows.

Other devices and documents belonging to the MoD were lost on a bus, a train and in a taxi, according to the official list obtained by Metro.co.uk. 

In total, the five-month dataset shows 71 instances where hardware or paperwork has ‘not been located’ — including 55 on ‘secure’ MoD sites.  

The record also includes USB sticks, mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops and CDs which went missing on official premises, a private residence and in public places or on public transport.  

Professor Anthony Glees, a security and intelligence expert at the University of Buckingham, told Metro.co.uk: ‘It’s scarcely credible to believe a hard drive marked “top secret” could go missing on an MoD site.

‘The disclosure appears to suggest that there is a culture of carelessness with our national security secrets which at worst could be seen as highly suspicious. It seems incredible that documents marked secret or above could go missing once or twice in the space of a few weeks but this disclosure shows that it’s a repeat problem over five months.

‘Whether it is down to carelessness or there is something more sinister going on, these cases need urgent examination.’ 

The top secret hard drive went missing on May 11 this year at an unspecified MoD site and had not been accounted for as of October 4, the date of the disclosure. Twelve other items on the list carried the ‘secret’ classification with the remainder being categorised ‘official’. 

Eight days after the hard drive went missing, a laptop was left on a bus, the data shows. In another incident, on March 27, a phone went astray, with the last known location being ‘public transportation/taxi’.

Two weeks earlier, a laptop went missing on a train, according to the record. All of the items left on public transport were classified ‘official’. 

One of the documents classed as ‘secret’ was left in a location marked ‘public place/unspecified’ on May 16, according to the list.

The remainder of the items with the second-highest classification shown in the dataset were unaccounted for on MoD sites.  

They include a CD, 10 documents and an ICT asset described as ‘removable media’ One loss, of a laptop classified as ‘official’, went missing on April 21 at a location listed as a ‘private residence’. 

The snapshot only covers losses between March 1, 2023 and July 17 because the Defence Digital Secretariat declined to cover a longer period on the grounds that it would be too expensive and time-consuming. 

It comes with the UK’s digital security in sharp focus with the country facing escalating cyber attacks emanating from hostile states.  

In July, Metro.co.uk reported how hackers in China were identified as being behind an attempt to steal UK and European foreign policy data. The threat identified by Check Point, a US-Israeli cyber-security provider, preceded reports that security information about British military and intelligence sites had been leaked online.

Hackers linked to Russia, known as LockBit, were said to have posted thousands of pages on the dark web, according to the Sunday Mirror.

The list of 71 missing items is part of an earlier disclosure of more than 122 instances of MoD losses over the five-month period.

The wider dataset includes devices and documents which were subsequently found. Some were the result of what the MoD said were ‘simple errors’ — such as items said to have been lost in the post.

In a letter accompanying the disclosure, the MoD states: ‘Of the 71 incidents where the devices/documents have not been located, 55 of them were on
secure MOD sites, significantly reducing the likelihood of harm resulting from them. 58 of the incidents involved material of no higher classification than OFFICIAL. Also, as we have outlined previously, accounting issues are recorded as losses, which is the case in a number of these incidents.

‘The investigation may result in the items being found at a later date, or a recording error being identified, meaning that nothing was actually lost.’

The MoD maintains that its policy is to encrypt all laptop, tablets and removable media to minimise the impact of any loss. 

An MoD spokesperson said: ‘We take the security of defence assets very seriously and have robust procedures to deter and prevent losses and thefts.

‘A very small number of classified items have been listed as security incidents out of an abundance of caution due to accounting discrepancies.

‘All laptops, tablet computers and removable media are encrypted to minimise the impact if a loss were to occur.’

MORE : MoD loses laptops and USB sticks as documents go missing in post

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