Oops again. (A biggie, this time)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Randall Webmail <rvh40 () insightbb com>
Date: July 3, 2009 4:02:43 PM EDT
To: johnmacsgroup () yahoogroups com, dewayne () warpspeed com, dave () farber net
Subject: Oops again.  (A biggie, this time)

Northrop Hard Drive Turns Up in Ghana
Published: 2 Jul 2009 14:46

Canadian journalism students bought a computer hard drive for $40 in  
the West African nation of Ghana and discovered that it contained  
sensitive information about U.S. defense contracts.

The drive apparently once belonged to Northrop Grumman or a Northrop  
Grumman employee, and it contained information about contracts the  
company had with the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland  
Security.

The students were in Ghana to work on a television report on the  
dumping of old electronic equipment there.

According to the University of British Columbia, the students bought  
the hard drove in an open-air market in February. It contained  
information about a number of contracts, some that had been recently  
finished, others that were still ongoing. It also contained  
information about Northrop's effort to win a $1.2 billion contract to  
perform personnel management work for the Transportation Security  
Administration. Ultimately, the agency hired Lockheed Martin to  
perform the work.

In a written statement, Northrop said, "we believe this hard drive may  
have been stolen after one or our asset-disposal vendors took  
possession of the unit."

The company says it has "a detailed asset-disposal procedure in  
place," but "no company can inoculate itself completely against crime."

The university said the discovery of the data-laden hard drive was  
reported to the FBI.
Northrop Hard Drive Turns Up in Ghana - Defense News (3 July 2009)
 http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4169158
 http://snipurl.com/lpx0o





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