Forwarded from: William Knowles <wkat_private> http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/03/08/dnd_disks020308 Last Updated Fri, 08 Mar 2002 8:18:18 OTTAWA - National defence officials insist computer discs found in an Ottawa alley marked "restricted" don't pose any threat to Canadian security, even though they contain information about navy submarines. An Ottawa woman found the discs in a downtown alleyway while on her way to work. The CD-ROMs, clearly labelled "Restricted," were scattered beside a dumpster. Dated from November 2000 to January 2002, the discs had been scratched in an attempt to make them unreadable, but the scratches were on the wrong side. They contained inventory lists of components found on Canada's Victoria Class submarines, purchased from Britain in 1998. The Department of National Defence said the discs came from BAE Systems, a contractor hired by Canada to provide parts and support for the submarines. Their office is located in the building next to the dumpster. DND says the information on the discs doesn't pose a risk to Canadian security. Lieutenant Commander Philip Anido points out the designation "restricted" is a British classification, and corresponds with Canada's lowest "protected" class. While Anido says it was not a serious security breach, he admits the discs should not have been left in the alleyway. "It's not sensitive material, but, it is restricted, and should have been disposed of completely and professionally," said Anido. "It's a very important lesson to learn that when material is discarded, it's done completely so that important material doesn't fall into the wrong hands." Alan Bell, president of international security firm Globe Risk Holdings, says the incident shows how easy it is for restricted information to fall into the wrong hands. "Some DND contractors aren't subject to the same criteria that DND departments are when handling sensitive information, and this has been an ongoing problem for quite a while because there's no oversight on civilian companies who provide services to DND," said Bell. DND officials say they've ordered BAE Systems to review its disposal protocol. *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ================================================================ C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org *==============================================================* - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat Mar 09 2002 - 04:51:18 PST