Old hard drives still full of sensitive data
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(InfoWorld) - Hard drives full of confidential data are still turning up on the second-hand market, researchers have reported. Investigations carried out on behalf of BT by the University of Glamorgan in the U.K., Edith Cowan University in Australia, and Longwood University in the U.S., found that 37 percent of drives surveyed had traces of personal data on them. Damningly, this figure is much the same as it was for the same surveys undertaken by the universities in each of the last two years, suggesting that either companies are ignoring the issue or simply lack the tools to adequately wipe data before resale. Sensitive information retrieved included salary details, financial data of specific companies, credit card numbers, medical data, visa applications, details of online purchases, and inevitably, online pornography. The sample totalled 350 hard drives acquired in online auctions. "Given the level of exposure that the subjects of security and identity theft has received in recent times, and the availability of suitable tools to ensure the safe disposal of information, it is difficult to understand why disks are still not being effectively cleaned before they are disposed off," said BT's security research head, Dr Andy Jones. "When organizations dispose off surplus and obsolete computers and hard disks, they must ensure that adequate procedures are in place to destroy any data and also to check that the procedures that are in place are effective -- whether they are handled by internal resources or through a third party contractor," he said. The full report -- which has yet to be made publically available -- reveals that buying second-hand disks is an unreliable way to get hold of storage. Of the 133 disks bought in the U.K., 44 percent of them didn't even work. But of those that did, 19 percent had enough information on them to identify the organization from which they had come, 65 percent had enough data to identify named people, and 17 percent contained "illicit" data. Techworld is an InfoWorld affiliate.
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While digital photography has freed up closet space, sorting and retrieving pictures in the era of the 250-gigabyte hard drive has created a set of challenges of its own.
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A laptop drive offered for sale as new on eBay turned out to have come from the laptop of an Arkansas Democratic Party official -- and still contained sensitive information when the buyer received it.
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Less than 25% of old computers sold or given away by companies have had data removed, a survey suggests.
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New drive crams enormous storage capacity into standard 3.5-inch format, but it's not ready for delivery just yet.
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For the first time in more years than I care to think about, I have been playing around with PCs that have no hard drives.
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Drives in PCs and media centres from 2005
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At Fry's this afternoon, where I bought two 500GB Firewire drives. Which it turns out I needed because after I got home all three external drives attached to my desktop were reported as damaged beyond repair by the new Mac OS. Coincidence? Lucky that I had exactly the hardware I needed to dig out of the mess? Who knows!
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Administaff, a provider of human resources services, is notifying 159,000 former and current workers that personal data about them was on a laptop reported missing on Oct. 3. The data was unencrypted.
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The holidays are done at last. Time to get back to normal. Well, perhaps not entirely normal. Our computers, after all, are normally in a state of chaos, cluttered with once-cherished files that we can't even find anymore.
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Digital photocopiers use hard drives to store data. If not properly secured, they can be vulnerable to data thieves. By the Associated Press.
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Hard drives store 30GB and more in 1.3-inch packages.
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With a waterproof casing, this is a chunkier drive that comes in a serious-looking gray. Data is protected using 256-bit AES encryption. Any person trying to access files needs a password. After 10 unsuccessful password attempts (the default), the drive locks and can't be accessed without formatting the drive.
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Google's Desktop Search application indexes a PC hard drive when it's not being used
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Users are finding lots of inventive ways to lose precious files, say data recovery experts.
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Computer thefts at Kaiser Permanente and at an Indiana health center may have exposed sensitive data on more than 45,000 people.
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PCs on council tips and other security no-nos Large UK businesses are crap at securely disposing old PCs and mobile devices.â¦