That old "object reuse" problem ...

["Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rmslade () shaw ca>]

UBC graduate students and instructors visited Ghana, China (the world's largest 
electronic waste dump, in Guiyi), and India to find out what happens to electronic 
trash.  Criminals scour the hard drives for credit card information and other 
personal information.  (The electronic waste also pollutes the environment and 
poisons scavengers seeking to extract metals.)

In Ghana, students bought a hard drive originally used by U.S. defence contractor 
Northrop Grumman, containing about 50 files marked as competitive and 
sensitive, including information on government contracts for the U.S. 
Department of Homeland Security.  Northrop spokesman Thomas Henson said 
that the company has a detailed procedure to dispose of electronics and the drive 
was likely stolen from a vendor that handles its disposed electronics.  (Yeah, right.)

(Maybe the Chinese don't have to hack into important computers to get sensitive 
info ...)

http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2009/mr-09-077.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/News/team+uncovers+sensitive+defence+records/17
23318/story.html

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/

http://www.timescolonist.com/Technology/secrets+found+trash/1723812/story.ht
ml

http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/2009/06/ubc-journalism-students-find-sensitive.html

======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small
people always do that, but the really great make you feel that
you, too, can become great.                             - Mark Twain
http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm 
http://blog.isc2.org/isc2_blog/slade/index.html http://twitter.com/rslade
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/p1/
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