May 2009 Newsbrief

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Computer hard drive sold on eBay 'had details of top secret U.S. missile defence system'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1178239/Computer-hard-drive-sold-eBay-details-secret-U-S-missile-defence-system.html

The UK's Daily Mail reports that British researchers studying the data on 300 second-hand hard drives purchased through various sources found sensitive details of the SCUD missile defense system used in Iraq.

In their study of data left on used hard drives, the researches found the test launch procedure for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, as well as security policies and facility blueprints.

In fact, 34% of the hard drives surveyed contained enough personal or corporate information to facilitate crimes such as identity theft, fraud and blackmail.

Examples of the information discovered include:

• Patient medical records of two hospitals entrusted to Lanarkshire NHS Trust
• Images of patients and their wounds from a nursing home in Australia
• Confidential network and security logs from the German Embassy in Paris
• Trading performances and budgets of a UK-based fashion company
• 50 billion currency exchange details of a US-based consultant

In addition to the harm caused by crimes that could be committed by using this information, businesses could also be held liable for not disposing of the information properly.

The survey was led by the BT (formerly British Telecom) Security Research Center in collaboration with the University of Glamorgan in Wales, Edith Cowan University in Australia and Longwood University in the US.