Swiss Spy Agency: Counter-Terrorism Secrets Stolen

Rambo Tribble writes "The Swiss spy agency, NDB, reports a disaffected employee walked out with drives containing terabytes of data shared by counter-terrorism agencies in Switzerland, the U.S. and Britain. It is not yet known if he was able to pass on any information before he was apprehended. 'A European security source said investigators now believe the suspect became disgruntled because he felt he was being ignored and his advice on operating the data systems was not being taken seriously.'"

Re:Should he get a medal or go to jail?

[timeOday]

His actions prove nothing except that a trusted senior individual with administrative rights and physical access to the system could, in fact, divulge sensitive information. That's not scandalous. In fact it is for all practical purposes unavoidable. OK, fault them for not inspecting everybody's bags on the way out of work every single day (ignoring the cost and alienation factor)... even then he could STILL have done it with a microSD under his tongue. At some point it comes down to trusting individuals.

Re:Advice

[lloydchristmas759]

Actually, it has been a long time since banking secrecy in Switzerland does not hold when crime is involved. When any Swiss bank suspects funds originate from criminal activities (e.g. drug or weapon trafficking, etc), it has the legal obligation to report it to Swiss financial market authority. From there, an investigation will be open. More information here [finma.ch].

However, tax evasion is not considered as a crime in Switzerland. This means that until recently, Swiss banks or the government would not disclose any information to foreign governments when only tax evasion was suspected. In the past few years though, international pressure on the Swiss government obliged it to ease the banking secrecy to the point where there is no secrecy anymore, except for permanent Swiss residents.