A computer harddrive bought off Ebay by a group of researchers from BT University was found to contain details of missile launch procedures for Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system. The THAAD system is the Army's missile defense shield program which is scheduled to be operational this year. Lockheed Martin is the main contractor used to build the system.
The researchers were also able to find details of Lockheed Martin's security protocols and blueprints of their facilities. What if this harddrive fell into the wrong hands or what if another harddrive has or will? What kind of computer security do they have at Lockheed Martin.
I suspect someone formatted the drive and sold it Ebay expecting to make some extra cash. But don't they understand that even if you format a harddrive it's still possible to extract most of the data back?
These harddrive should be destroyed not formatted and sold on Ebay to our enemies. BBC
Sensitive information for shooting down intercontinental missiles as well as bank details and NHS records was found on old computers, researchers say.[...]
Details of test launch procedures for the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) ground-to-air missile defence system was found on a disk bought on eBay.
The missile system, tested as recently as March 2009 following a controversial missile test by North Korea, is designed to destroy long-range intercontinental missiles launched by terrorists or countries the US considers to be "rogue states".
The missile system was designed and built by US defence group Lockheed Martin and the same computer hard disk also revealed security policies and blueprints of facilities at the group, and personal information on employees.
3 comments:
Confidence!!!
Where did Ebay get the computer? Or probably a better question is who sold the computer on Ebay?
Indeed this is a national security issue that should be addressed.
There's a specific protocol that needs to be followed when disposing of computer hardware. The DOD 7-pass wipe is well known in the security community.
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