The Sun is reporting that an MI6 agent forgot to erase top secret images and documents from a Nikon CoolPix digital camera before selling it on eBay. The agent, soon to be sacked according to the article, got about $35 for the camera which contained images of terrorist weapons, secret files, and computer systems. Following on the other recent SNAFUs of the British intelligence agencies this is an embarrassment for the government. I think it highlights just how difficult it is to protect data from accidental loss let alone deliberate theft.
The 28 year old deliveryman who purchased the camera took it to the police in Hemel Hempstead, Herts (say that fast three times). Initially they thought he was joking:
Yet within days Special Branch, the team of specialist anti-terror officers based in every county force, descended on his humble terraced home.
They took away the camera and the family’s PC and spent £1,000 replacing them.
Officers banned the shocked family from talking to the media.
One more quote from the article:
Terrorism author Neil Doyle said: “These are MI6 documents relating to an operation against al-Qaeda insurgents in Iraq. It’s jaw-dropping they got into the public domain.
If MI6 cannot protect their data from this type of “leak” how can any organization do so?
About Stiennon
Richard Stiennon is a security industry analyst. He is currently consulting, speaking and writing on all manner of security topics for IT-Harvest, the IT research firm he founded to cover the security space. He was most recently chief marketing officer for Fortinet. He has served stints at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Gartner, and Webroot Software.
The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
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Do you believe that?
It is hard for me to believe that the agency leaked the information without purpose.
Think few steps further.
If I want to make people on the Net believe that I am dating Pamela Anderson, I will doctored some pictures to show me and Pam together, faked the EXIF data, and put it back on the camera and sell it on eBay.
Just a 2 cents from an old friend :)
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