Missile Defense Top Secrets Found in Hard Drives Sold on Ebay
Highly sensitive details of a US military missile air defence system were found on a second-hand hard drive bought on eBay.
The test launch procedures were found on a hard disk for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) ground to air missile defence system, used to shoot down Scud missiles in Iraq.
The disk also contained security policies, blueprints of facilities and personal information on employees including social security numbers, belonging to technology company Lockheed Martin – who designed and built the system.
British researchers found the data while studying more than 300 hard disks bought at computer auctions, computer fairs and eBay.
The experts also uncovered other sensitive information including bank account details, medical records, confidential business plans, financial company data, personal id numbers, and job descriptions.
The drives were bought from the UK, America, Germany, France and Australia by BT’s Security Research Centre in collaboration with the University of Glamorgan in Wales, Edith Cowan University in Australia and Longwood University in the US.
So if you ever plan on selling one of your old hard drives, DON’T!
[ Daily Mail ]
