--- title: British intelligence agency misplaced 'thousands' of... description: GCHQ has lost thousands of storage drives containing sensitive data and still can't say how many. The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office annual report... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/british-intelligence-agency-misplaced-thousands-of-storage-devices-years-later-still-can-t-say-ho-j2wkqzjrw twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: British intelligence agency misplaced 'thousands' of storage devices, years later still can't say how many | daily.dev og:description: GCHQ has lost thousands of storage drives containing sensitive data and still can't say how many. The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office annual report... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/british-intelligence-agency-misplaced-thousands-of-storage-devices-years-later-still-can-t-say-ho-j2wkqzjrw og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/J2WkqZjRW.png og:image:alt: British intelligence agency misplaced 'thousands' of storage devices, years later still can't say how many og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # British intelligence agency misplaced 'thousands' of storage devices, years later still can't say how many **[The Register](https://daily.dev/sources/theregister)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary GCHQ has lost thousands of storage drives containing sensitive data and still can't say how many. The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office annual report calls the scale 'a very significant number' and says GCHQ hasn't established the scale, location, or recoverability of the missing media. GCHQ plans an automated asset-tracking system by year's end, after which it says it will be able to give a more precise number. The same report details a software bug in a GCHQ target-discovery tool that misidentified individuals, leading to five Terrorism Act port stops, plus MI5's mishandling of informant 'Agent X.' ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What did the UK Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office report about GCHQ losing storage devices? The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office 2025 annual report found GCHQ has lost 'a very significant number' of removable storage drives, some potentially containing data related to the Investigatory Powers Act. GCHQ has scoped the maximum possible number lost but still doesn't know the exact scale, location, or recoverability, and is building an automated asset-tracking system by the end of the year to get a precise count. _Those tracking government data-handling failures can follow security incident reporting on daily.dev._ ### How did a GCHQ software bug lead to wrongful Terrorism Act detentions? A software bug in a GCHQ web app used for 'target discovery work' misidentified a small number of individuals as participating in terrorist activities, leading to five port stops under the Terrorism Act that caused 'serious prejudice' to the victims. The Investigatory Powers Commissioner ruled this was not a legal error because the activity was lawfully authorized under an interception warrant, and the flawed methodology was deemed unforeseeable. _Developers weighing the real-world stakes of software bugs can track cases like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [UK surveillance law still full of holes, watchdog warns](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-surveillance-law-still-full-of-holes-watchdog-warns-n9fmtu7r5) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [What happened to the Snowden archive](https://daily.dev/posts/what-happened-to-the-snowden-archive-rahtlri8r) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [UK government says 100 countries have spyware that can hack people’s phones](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-government-says-100-countries-have-spyware-that-can-hack-people-s-phones-awuapxqsg) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [UK blames legacy IT for incomplete data protection progress](https://daily.dev/posts/uk-blames-legacy-it-for-incomplete-data-protection-progress-0py78vosm) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Britain steps up its defences against AI risks](https://daily.dev/posts/britain-steps-up-its-defences-against-ai-risks-x9slpldir) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#security](https://daily.dev/tags/security), [#data-breach](https://daily.dev/tags/data-breach) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/british-intelligence-agency-misplaced-thousands-of-storage-devices-years-later-still-can-t-say-ho-j2wkqzjrw) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"British intelligence agency misplaced 'thousands' of storage devices, years later still can't say how many","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/british-intelligence-agency-misplaced-thousands-of-storage-devices-years-later-still-can-t-say-ho-j2wkqzjrw","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/british-intelligence-agency-misplaced-thousands-of-storage-devices-years-later-still-can-t-say-ho-j2wkqzjrw"},"datePublished":"2026-10-30T11:45:50.401Z","dateModified":"2026-10-30T11:52:51.053Z","description":"GCHQ has lost thousands of storage drives containing sensitive data and still can't say how many. 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GCHQ has scoped the maximum possible number lost but still doesn't know the exact scale, location, or recoverability, and is building an automated asset-tracking system by the end of the year to get a precise count. Those tracking government data-handling failures can follow security incident reporting on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How did a GCHQ software bug lead to wrongful Terrorism Act detentions?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A software bug in a GCHQ web app used for 'target discovery work' misidentified a small number of individuals as participating in terrorist activities, leading to five port stops under the Terrorism Act that caused 'serious prejudice' to the victims. The Investigatory Powers Commissioner ruled this was not a legal error because the activity was lawfully authorized under an interception warrant, and the flawed methodology was deemed unforeseeable. Developers weighing the real-world stakes of software bugs can track cases like this on daily.dev."}}]} ```