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Unclean Military Hard Drives Sold On eBay

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the they-should-know-better dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Daily Mail reports, 'Highly sensitive details of a US military missile air defense 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 Defense) ground to air missile defense 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.' Scary that they did not wipe it to Department of Defense standards, which I believe is wiping the whole disk and then writing 1010 all over it."

8 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. In other news.. by __aanmys7397 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..the market is being flooded with Chinese made ground to air missile defence systems, available for a quarter of the price, and half the accuracy.
    Fine Print: THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE SYSTEM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW

  2. Re:please... by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Funny

    In the UK, the government uses magnetic fields generated by train seats to erase sensitive data.

  3. Re:I have to wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your comment is utterly devoid of value unless you can prove you have something worthwhile to respond with. Good luck!

  4. Nearly right... by LoyalOpposition · · Score: 5, Funny

    scary that they did not wipe it to Department of Defense standards which I believe is wiping the whole disk and then writing 1010 all over it.

    That's nearly right. The actual procedure is to wipe it to DoD standards, and then load it up with fake documents.

    -Loyal

    --
    I aim to misbehave.
  5. A+++++ Vendor! by xonar · · Score: 5, Funny

    A++++++++++++ service! Quick shipping, and free military secrets included! Would buy from again.

  6. Re:I have to wonder by sadness203 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Your comment is so fat it was... oh ... no, wrong joke.

  7. Re:Unclean? by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Aww, you just went for a cheap laugh.

    When you said The American Security Service (acronym to be determined) I thought for sure, you were going to start a wiping service!

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  8. Re:For Highly Classified Data, it's more than a wi by jandoedel · · Score: 5, Funny

    ?? why would sandblasting an intern help in wiping the disk?