The BBC published an interesting report today on sensitive data found on used hard drives that I thought I should pass along to all of our readers. Researchers at BT and the University of Glamorgan bought 300 used hard drives from the United Kingdom, America, Germany, France and Australia. Their results were shocking - 34% of these used hard drives contained personal data!

How personal? The researchers found credit card data, incredibly personal medical records, security logs from embassies and even test launch procedures for a ground-to-air missile defense system.

The researchers said that there was more than enough information on the hard drives to expose both firms and individuals to fraud and identity theft. And all of these hard drives were purchased from online auction sites and computer fairs.

Stories like this demonstrate how important Dynamic SSL and SmartSwipe are. If information is encrypted before it reaches your computer, it cannot fall into the wrong hands - even if you sell/donate your used computer. It also sheds light into the rapid proliferation of identity theft/identity fraud. And finally, it makes me proud that the R.C.M.P. alerted the Canadian Federal Government about this problem several years ago.