http://news.techworld.com/security/3353817/infosec-2012-one-in-10-second-hand-hard-drives-contain-personal-data/ By Sophie Curtis Techworld 25 April 2012 The Information Commissioner’s Office has published a report revealing that one in ten second-hand hard drives sold online contains residual personal data, with some containing scanned bank statements, passports, information on previous driving offences, and medical details. The report is based on a “mystery shopper” exercise carried out by NCC Group on behalf of the ICO. The organisation sourced 200 hard drives from a mixture of internet auction sites and computer trade fairs. The devices were initially searched without any additional software, and then interrogated using forensic tools freely available on the internet. The research found that, while 52 percent of the hard drives investigated were unreadable or had been wiped of data, 48 percent contained information and 11 percent of that data was personal. In at least two cases the hard drives contained enough information to enable someone to steal the former owner’s identity. “We identified 34,000 files containing either personal or corporate information – ample material to compromise the security of individuals and to allow fraud to take place,” said Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, in a keynote session at the Infosecurity Europe event. [...] _______________________________________________ LayerOne Security Conference May 26-27, Clarion Hotel, Anaheim, CA http://www.layerone.orgReceived on Wed Apr 25 2012 - 23:43:46 PDT
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