Hard Drive Purchased on eBay Revealed Highly Sensitive Missile Launch ProcedureMay 12, 2009
 The launch procedures for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ground-to-air missile defense system, used to knock down incoming Scud missiles in Iraq, were found on a second-hand, computer hard disk drive purchased on eBay. That disk was among the 300 hard drives bought from computer auctions and fairs in the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia by researchers. The researchers also bought used hard drives from eBay. British Telecommunications' Security Research Center led the investigation in collaboration with the University of Glamorgan in Wales, Edith Cowan University in Australia and Longwood University in the U.S. The disk that revealed the launch procedure contained other sensitive information, according to an article in the London's Daily Mail. It held some of Lockheed Martin's security policies, blueprints of some of its facilities and personal information of some employees, including social security numbers. A spokesman for defense giant Lockheed Martin, which designed THAAD, told the Daily Mailthat the company is not aware of any comprise of data related to THAAD. "Until Lockheed Martin can evaluate the hard drive in question, it is not possible to comment further on its potential contents or source," the spokesman added. A disk from France revealed confidential information, including network data and security logs from the German Embassy in Paris. Another disk from the U.K. contained patient medical records, images of x-rays, medical staff shifts and sensitive and confidential staff letters, according to the Daily Mail. A researcher on the project said that many large organizations are not disposing drives securely. "In the current financial climate they risk losing highly valuable propriety data," Iain Sutherland of the University of Glamorgan, told the Daily Mail. |
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