GCHQ has apparently lost thousands of storage devices in recent years — and has no idea where any of them are

• 'Thousands' of GCHQ storage devices are missing or unaccounted for
• Most are likely protected by encryption or PIN access
• Watchdog is 'concerned' and 'disappointed'

The UK's intelligence and cybersecurity agency, GCHQ, has been slammed by its very own watchdog after failing to account for thousands of missing storage devices.

The 2025 Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO) report ultimately concluded GCHQ has failed to establish the location or status of thousands of removable storage devices such as USB sticks, external hard drives and memory cards.

While the exact number of devices is unconfirmed, the IPCO report does confirm the estimate to be "in the thousands" – and that's a GCHQ estimate, not a third-party estimate.

GCHQ has seemingly lost thousands of USBs, external drives, memory cards

"There is a programme of further work to locate and account for as many of these devices as possible," the report adds, noting that "GCHQ...

Copyright of this story solely belongs to www.techradar.com. To see the full text click HERE