MI6 Terror Photos, Data Accidentally Sold On Ebay 317
Barence writes "In what's turning out to be a bad week for security in the UK, confidential MI6 documents, fingerprints and photos relating to suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists have been found in the memory of the second-hand Nikon Coolpix camera, which was bought on eBay for only £17. The buyer immediately went to the police, who initially treated it as a joke; when they realised he was serious, they swooped on his home and seized his camera and PC. Remember, this is the same MI6 which plans to recruit new members via Facebook, a userbase not exactly famous for its dedication to privacy, security and discretion. The news comes on the back of yesterday's embarrassment over a local council whose VPN device ended up on eBay with confidential login details left on it."
So I just have to wonder. (Score:5, Interesting)
Just how many people buy hard drives just to mine them for data?
1. Buy the drives on Ebay
2. Scan drives for valuable data.
3. Sell cleaned drives on Ebay and sell data to the highest bidder.
4. Profit.
Incidents (Score:5, Interesting)
17 September 2008 The Insolvency Service. Laptop containing personal details of 385 former directors of insolvent companies has been stolen. Greater Manchester Police are investigating the burglary, which happened on 28 August. The Insolvency Service said 385 ex-company directors had been affected and also about 150 people with a connection to the firms. Information on the company directors included name, address, date of birth and occupation. No bank account details were held. In relation to the creditors, complainants and employees, the data included name, address, and bank account details in a small number of cases.
16 September 2008.
NHS memory stick found in street. An NHS trust has apologised after a computer memory stick, containing the confidential files of 200 patients, was found in a street. It stored a summary of medical histories and patients' national insurance numbers and addresses.
Monday, 15 September 2008 18:19 UK.
Police admit to lost data blunder. A police force has undertaken an urgent hunt for a computer memory stick after admitting it has been lost by an officer on duty. A police force has undertaken an urgent hunt for a computer memory stick after admitting it has been lost by an officer on duty.
Monday, 15 September 2008 18:12 UK. Trust loses 18,000 staff records. Discs containing personal information on almost 18,000 NHS staff have gone missing from a north London hospital. Discs containing personal information on almost 18,000 NHS staff have gone missing from a north London hospital.
10 September 2008 11:34 UK
Up to 15,000 patients' data taken
Computer back-up tapes containing personal information on up to 15,396 patients at a surgery have been stolen. "There are 15,396 patients registered at the surgery and potentially information on all of them could be on the tapes.
27 August 2008 12:38 UK,
Health board lost patients' data
A health board has tightened its security measures after the loss of two memory sticks containing patient data.
27 August 2008 12:05 UK Taxpayers' details found on eBay. A Leicestershire council is investigating a report that a computer containing taxpayers' personal details was sold on auction website eBay. Bank account numbers and sort codes of people in the Charnwood Borough Council area were reportedly found after the equipment was sold for £6.99. Information including bank account numbers, telephone numbers, mothers' maiden names and signatures of customers of American Express, NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) were reportedly found on the computer.
Thursday, 21 August 2008 22:56 UK
Company loses data on criminals
A contractor working for the Home Office has lost a computer memory stick containing personal details about tens of thousands of criminals. The lost data includes details about 10,000 prolific offenders as well as information on all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales.
9 August 2008 13:06 UK
BBC sorry after TV data is stolen
The BBC has apologised after a memory stick containing the personal details of hundreds of children who had applied to take part in a TV show was stolen. Deverell also informed parents they could call a free helpline if they had concerns about the lost data - which included names, addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers.
29 July 2008 09:42 UK
Missing laptop data not 'at risk'
A laptop computer from the Citizens Advice Bureau in Coleraine has gone missing. The details of about 7,000 people were on the computer of an outreach worker from the voluntary group which was mislaid in transit.
Wednesday, 23 July 2008 14:17 UK
Surgery patients' data is stolen
Information on more than 3,500 patients at a surgery in Greater Manchester has been stolen, health bosses have said.
22 July 2008 20:56 UK
'Spying' requests exceed 500,000
More than 500,000 official "spying" requests for private communications data such as telephone records were made last year, a report says. Police, security services and other p
Re:Fuck the police (Score:5, Interesting)
Better off to do as the person who found the stuff on the train did. Go to the press ensure that any handover is as public as it can possibly be.
Re:WTH (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Fuck the police (Score:5, Interesting)
You're right, the police probably had little choice other than to confiscate his equipment. It was a completely predictable reaction, and that is why the person in question shouldn't have gone to the police.
Even if they did return the equipment,I hope he's comfortable with some thug poring over his personal and private data. You know, searching through his email to see who he might have spoken with about these records. Looking at every single image file on the drive, etc.
Re:Fuck the police (Score:3, Interesting)
ahh the old "subconsiously I wanted to be caught"
how remiss of me
Re:Fuck the police (Score:2, Interesting)
Always keep your mouth shut and talk to a lawyer first.
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/28/law-prof-and-cop-agr.html [boingboing.net]
Direct video links:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4097602514885833865 [google.com]
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6014022229458915912&ei=z0PiSIiyLomuiALBpMSfCw [google.com]
Re:Fuck the police (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Fuck the police (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Fuck the police (Score:3, Interesting)
Munshi was arrested after police found an instruction manual on making grenades and napalm downloaded to his computer from the internet.
The guy got two years for this and also running a website selling knives and Islamic flags, so yeah reading material can get you in trouble, at least here in the UK. Who needs liberties!
Re:Fuck the police (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Fuck the police (Score:3, Interesting)
And how are they going to prove that you deleted the data, not the person who sold you the camera?
I agree that it's an ugly situation, but if we take this line of paranoia to extremes, then you should never ever buy any second hand gear, because it might once have had classified material on it, and the gov't might trace the sale to you and assume that you're the one who deleted the data and toss you in Gitmo.