Former GCHQ intern admits top secret data breach risking national security The Argus

pA former GCHQ intern has admitted risking national security by taking top secret data homeppHasaan Arshad 25 from Rochdale Greater Manchester pleaded guilty to an offence under the Computer Misuse Act on what would have been the first day of his Old Bailey trialppThe charge related to doing an unauthorised act which risked damaging national securityppOn August 24 2022 he took his work mobile phone into a top secret area of GCHQ and connected the device to a top secret work station it was allegedppHe then transferred sensitive data from a secure top secret computer to the phone before taking it home it was claimedppArshad then transferred the data from the phone to a hard drive connected to his personal home computerppThe defendant was arrested and his home was searched on September 22 2022ppOn Monday he pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 3ZA of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 relating to unauthorised acts causing or creating risk of serious damageppThe charge said Between August 23 2022 and September 23 2022 he did an unauthorised act in relation to a computer and at the time of doing the act knew that it was unauthorised and the act caused or created a significant risk of a material kind this being damage to the national security of a country and he intended by doing the act to cause serious damage of a material kind or was reckless as to whether such damage was causedppArshads lawyer Nina Grahame KC told the court that he had admitted the offence on the basis of recklessnessppThe court was told Arshad had previously admitted two charges of making an indecent photograph of a child in relation to a number of images found between September 7 and 23 2022ppMrs Justice McGowan adjourned sentencing for all the charges to June 13ppThe senior judge ordered a presentence report and granted Arshad continued bail with various conditions including not to access the dark webppShe told him I want you to understand because of your age I am making the request for the presentence report in this case but that does not mean there will not be a custodial sentenceppArshad wore a smart dark grey suit white shirt and dark brown tie and nodded his understanding before leaving the dockppPreviously the senior judge had ruled that some parts of Arshads case would be heard behind closed doors in the absence of the press and publicppTop secret is the classification for the Governments most sensitive information where compromise might cause widespread loss of life or threaten the security or economic wellbeing of the country or friendly nations according to Ministry of Justice security guidancepp
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege not a right however and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused
pp
Please report any comments that break our rules
ppComments are closed on this articleppYou must verify your phone number before you can commentppPlease enter your phone number below and a verification code will be sent to you by text messageppPlease enter the sixdigit verification code sent to you by SMSpp
Your verification code has been sent a second time to the mobile phone number you provided
pp
Your verification code has been sent a third time to the mobile phone number you provided
pp
You have requested your verification code too many times Please try again later
ppThe code you entered has not been recognisedppPlease try againppYou have failed to enter a correct code after three attemptsppPlease try again laterpp
This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisations
Editors Code of Practice If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to
inaccuracy or intrusion then please
contact the editor here
If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can
contact IPSO here
pp
20012025 Newsquest Media Group Ltd 1st Floor Chartist Tower Upper Dock Street Newport Wales NP20 1DW 01676637
ppData returned from the Piano meterActivemeterExpired callback eventppAs a subscriber you are shown 80 less display advertising when reading our
articlesppThose ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local
services ppThese adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local
communityppIt is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need
as much support as possible during these challenging timesp