USB with NATO Sensitive Data Found in Swedish Library

A USB stick containing classified NATO information was found in a library in Sweden. According to the Registrar, the stick contained sensitive details on NATO’s ISAF peace-keeping force in Afghanistan and an intelligence report on the attempted assassination targeting Lebanon’s defense minister and the murder of Sri Lanka’s foreign minister.

Given the reaction of Colonel Bengt Sandström of the Swedish Military Intelligence described by the Registrar, it is most likely that the USB stick in question was in no way encrypted or protected by any endpoint security solution.

This is not the first time such critical information is misplaced. The Dutch army, as shown in the same article, lost classified data in similar circumstances not once, but twice in the same year, 2006. Also, the US military lost several flash drives containing secret information. The devices were later discovered as they were being sold carelessly in an Afghani market.

I’d like to point out that precedents don’t seem to impose harsher measures when it comes to classified military data. After several such incidents having occured, one would expect army decision makers to upgrade their security policies and have the latest endpoint security software implemented.