British intel intern pleads guilty to smuggling top secret data out of protected facility

A former intern at the British cyber and signals intelligence agency GCHQ has pleaded guilty to risking national security by smuggling top secret information out of a protected computer.

Hassan Arshad, 25, was accused of transferring sensitive material off an agency computer and onto a smartphone which he had brought into GCHQ on August 24, 2022.

Arshad, a student at the University of Manchester who had a work placement at the agency, then uploaded the data to a hard drive connected to his personal computer. He was arrested a month later on September 22.

The information related to a “tool” used by GCHQ, according to the Daily Mail, which reported the data also included the names of agency employees.

The British government’s classification guidelines describe “top secret” as the most sensitive tier of protected information, explaining that a compromise could lead to loss of life or directly threaten national security.

Part of the case against Arshad is being held behind closed doors without any members of the press or public being admitted to the court.

Arshad had previously admitted to two charges of making an indecent photograph of a child in relation to a number of images found in September 2022. He is due to be sentenced on June 13.