Swiss secret service warns foreign colleagues after data theft

An employee of the Swiss secret service NDB is said to have stolen terabytes of sensitive information. The man was arrested and the NDB has since warned its colleagues in the US and the UK about the data theft.

The suspect allegedly copied terabytes of sensitive data from systems to portable hard drives. The servers of the Nachrichtendienst des Bundes are said to have contained information that foreign intelligence services exchanged about, among other things, combating terrorism, such as writes Reuters.

The man, a technician who had worked for the NDB for eight years, is said to have tried to sell the stolen data, but was not successful: he was arrested this summer after he behaved suspiciously. It concerned information related to counter-terrorism. However, the NDB only took action after a bank warned that the man had opened a bank account. The suspect was later released, but a criminal investigation into the man is still ongoing.

Although the Swiss believe that the man has failed to sell the stolen data, the NDB has warned colleagues in the US and the United Kingdom, among others, about the possibility that the information is no longer secret. The suspected perpetrator is further described as a talented individual with sufficient rights to access virtually all classified data on the systems of the Swiss secret services.

The suspect is said to have acted out of dissatisfaction with his position within the secret service. For example, the man’s advice about the management of the NDB’s data systems would not have been listened to. Despite this, there has been discussion in Switzerland about security at the NDB. This relatively young secret service is said to have failed to control its personnel.