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Second hand hard disks threaten online security

A new study by researchers from BT and the University of Glamorgan has highlighted how consumers are risking their online security by failing to fully delete information from computers before they are sold.

The researchers bought second hand computer disks from the UK, the US, Germany, France and Australia for the study and found a treasure trove of data including US government information on shooting down missiles.

Some 34 per cent of the randomly bought disks were found to contain everything from bank account details, medical records, financial company data and personal ID numbers.

Dr Glenn Dardick, who was in charge of the US research team, said: "Given the rise in ID theft and the apparent availability of discarded information, we need to do better in educating people about this problem."

"We found enough information to expose both individuals and companies to a range of potential crimes such as fraud, blackmail and identity theft," added Dr Andy Jones, head of information security research at BT.

The missile defence data involved Lockheed Martin but the BBC states that a company spokesman denied any data had been compromised.

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