[ISN] B.C. students buy sensitive U.S. defence data for $40 in Africa

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:43:31 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/06/23/tech-e-waste-ghana-data-british-columbia-journalism-students.html

By Emily Chung
CBC News 
June 24, 2009

A hard drive containing information about multimillion-dollar U.S. 
defence contracts was obtained in Ghana by a group of Vancouver 
journalism students as they probed what happens to developed nations' 
discarded and donated electronics.

"It's pretty shocking," said Blake Sifton, one of three UBC graduate 
journalism students who purchased the device containing information 
related to contracts between the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland 
Security and military contractor Northrop Grumman. The hard drive cost 
the students just $40.

"You'd think a security contractor that constantly deals with very 
secret proprietary information would probably want to wipe their 
drives," Sifton said Tuesday.

He visited Ghana for 10 days in February with classmates Heba Elasaad 
and Krysia Collyer and Prof. Dan McKinney while making the documentary 
Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground for an international reporting course.

[...]


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Received on Fri Jun 26 2009 - 02:43:31 PDT

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