Former GCHQ intern admits top secret data breach risking national security

A former GCHQ intern has admitted risking national security by taking top secret data home.

Hasaan 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 trial.

The charge related to doing an unauthorised act which risked damaging national security.

On 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 alleged.

He then transferred sensitive data from a secure, top secret computer to the phone before taking it home, it was claimed.

Arshad then transferred the data from the phone to a hard drive connected to his personal home computer.

The defendant was arrested and his home was searched on September 22 2022.

On 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 damage”.

The 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 caused.”

Arshad’s lawyer Nina Grahame KC told the court that he had admitted the offence on the “basis of recklessness”.

The 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 2022.

Mrs Justice McGowan adjourned sentencing for all the charges to June 13.

The senior judge ordered a pre-sentence report and granted Arshad continued bail with various conditions, including not to access the dark web.

She told him: “I want you to understand because of your age I am making the request for the pre-sentence report in this case but that does not mean there will not be a custodial sentence.”

Arshad wore a smart dark grey suit, white shirt and dark brown tie and nodded his understanding before leaving the dock.

Previously, the senior judge had ruled that some parts of Arshad’s case would be heard behind closed doors, in the absence of the press and public.

“Top secret” is the classification for the Government’s 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 guidance.