The industry leader in data erasure and mobile device diagnostics, Blancco Technology Group, released the results of a new study that examines residual data on old storage devices bought on eBay, the largest online market in the world. The study, which was done in collaboration with partner Ontrack, examined 159 drives purchased in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Finland. On 42% of devices, sensitive data was found, and 15% of those contained personally identifiable information (PII).
Included in the data found was a high-level government clearance with images of family passports and birth certificates, university student papers, 5GB of internal data from a major travel company, and much more.
“Selling old hardware via an online marketplace might feel like a good option, but in reality, it creates a serious risk of exposing dangerous levels of personal data,” said Fredrik Forslund, VP of cloud and data erasure, Blancco, in a press release issued by the firm. “By putting this equipment into the wrong hands, irreversible damage will be caused โ not just to the seller, but their employer, friends, and family members. It is also clear that there is confusion around the right methods of data erasure, as each seller was under the impression that data had been permanently removed. It’s critical to securely erase any data on drives before passing them onto another party, using the appropriate methods to confirm that it’s well and truly gone. Education on best ways to permanently remove data from devices is a vital investment to negate the very real risk of falling victim to identity theft or other methods of cybercrime.”
The report is a terrifying look at how data, even from drives you might think are secure, can be retrieved and misused.
Read more about this story at https://www.pcmag.com/news/many-used-hard-drives-sold-on-ebay-still-contain-leftover-data
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