Survey: 40% of hard drives bought on eBay hold personal, corporate data
A New York computer forensics firm found that 40% of the hard disk drives it recently purchased in bulk orders on eBay contained personal, private and sensitive information -- everything from corporate financial data to the Web-surfing history and downloads of a man with a foot fetish.

Kessler International conducted the study over a six-month period, buying up disk drives ranging in size from 40GB to 300GB from the United States and Canada. The firm, which completed its research about two weeks ago, bought a total of 100 relatively modern drives, the vast majority of them Serial ATA.

"With size of the sample, I guess we were surprised with the percentage of disks that we found data on," said Michael Kessler, CEO of Kessler International. "We expected most of the drives to be wiped -- to find one or two disks with data. But 40 drives out of 100 is a lot."

Government probe launched after details of one million bank customers found on computer sold on eBay

The eBay computer scandal which saw the loss of personal data on a million bank customers is to be investigated by the Information Commissioner.

The Mail revealed today that the data was found on a second-hand computer sold for Â£35 in an eBay auction.

It had belonged to Graphic Data, which stores financial information for organisations at its archive in Shoeburyness, Essex.

Over the past few years, data retention has become a critical issue for corporations as they take steps to comply with complicated legislation -- particularly, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While companies obsess over the retention requirements and boost their storage capabilities, there seems to be a tendency to ignore the flip side of the coin: data destruction.

What happens when your data has finally served its purpose? Sooner or later, you'll need to clean out those storage devices and free up some space. In previous articles, I've discussed how to erase old hardware and wipe data from Cisco routers and switches before discarding them. But these aren't the only devices on which data resides.

Computer Recycling - Don't Be A Victim

This is a fairly common issue in computer recycling and yet, many of us who recycle computers still fail to observe basic safety measures to protect ourselves. I'm talking about identity theft and data protection.

That PC or laptop you're using right now to read this post have bytes and bytes of personal data in it, that could have a devastating impact on you, if those are ever obtained by unscrupulous individuals. When the time comes for you to recycle that computer, here are a few things you can do to prevent that from happening.

Dell, HP see a big market in smaller companies

Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) are pouring millions into a competition to win over smaller companies â€” and not just to sell them tech gear.

The world's two largest PC makers have rolled out dueling initiatives to deliver a plethora of services â€” many of them free â€” to help small and midsize businesses, so-called SMBs, prosper. Smaller companies "will be the catalyst for the economy recovering," predicts Paul-Henri Ferrand, Dell's vice president of global strategy for SMBs.

Dell and HP ultimately hope to broker lucrative management services along with their hardware, much as IBM does with big corporations. "This is all about being more efficient and finding access to new pockets of money," IDC analyst Ray Boggs says.

Re-Source Partners Asset Management, Inc supports the Lifecycle Services needs of some of the world’s largest corporations, OEMs, IT Resellers, VARs, IT Service Providers. The company adheres to ISO 14001 quality control measures. Some of Re-Source Partners’ services include: purchasing retired IT hardware, remarketing, recycling via ZERO LANDFILL methods, destroying data to Department of Defense levels – DOD 5220-22M, managing end of lease, warehousing, storage and deployment projects. The company delivers a full suite of detailed inventory, audit and reporting capabilities. Re-Source Partners works with PC, Server, Networking, Storage and Telecom Equipment.

Click Here to see the re-Source Partners Capabilities Video
May 2009	Greetings {FIRST_NAME},
In This Issue Survey: 40% of hard drives bought on eBay hold personal, corporate data Government probe launched after details of one million bank customers found on computer sold on eBay Keep secrets safe with a data destruction policy Computer Recycling - Don't Be A Victim Dell, HP see a big market in smaller companies Humor in Technology Memorable Quote Visit our website For more information on how re-Source Partners can help your company reduce the cost of ownership, handling, and retirement of IT assets as well as data confidentiality, data destruction, and legislation compliance. www.re-Sourcepartners.com Humor in Technology Memorable Quote "Technology is ruled by two types of people: those who manage what they do not understand, and those who understand what they do not manage." --Mike Trout Please consider our environment before printing this email. Sincerely, Matthew G. Loria mattl@re-Sourcepartners.com re-Source Partners Ph: 586.783.0700 x.225 Mobile: 586.615.3829 Fax: 586.783.3935	Survey: 40% of hard drives bought on eBay hold personal, corporate data A New York computer forensics firm found that 40% of the hard disk drives it recently purchased in bulk orders on eBay contained personal, private and sensitive information -- everything from corporate financial data to the Web-surfing history and downloads of a man with a foot fetish. Kessler International conducted the study over a six-month period, buying up disk drives ranging in size from 40GB to 300GB from the United States and Canada. The firm, which completed its research about two weeks ago, bought a total of 100 relatively modern drives, the vast majority of them Serial ATA. "With size of the sample, I guess we were surprised with the percentage of disks that we found data on," said Michael Kessler, CEO of Kessler International. "We expected most of the drives to be wiped -- to find one or two disks with data. But 40 drives out of 100 is a lot." Read More Government probe launched after details of one million bank customers found on computer sold on eBay The eBay computer scandal which saw the loss of personal data on a million bank customers is to be investigated by the Information Commissioner. The firms involved - the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and American Express - have also promised to launch probes. The Mail revealed today that the data was found on a second-hand computer sold for Â£35 in an eBay auction. It had belonged to Graphic Data, which stores financial information for organisations at its archive in Shoeburyness, Essex. Read More Keep secrets safe with a data destruction policy The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other legislation have made data retention a hot topic. But about the flip side of the coin -- what happens when your data has finally served its purpose? Over the past few years, data retention has become a critical issue for corporations as they take steps to comply with complicated legislation -- particularly, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While companies obsess over the retention requirements and boost their storage capabilities, there seems to be a tendency to ignore the flip side of the coin: data destruction. What happens when your data has finally served its purpose? Sooner or later, you'll need to clean out those storage devices and free up some space. In previous articles, I've discussed how to erase old hardware and wipe data from Cisco routers and switches before discarding them. But these aren't the only devices on which data resides. Read More Computer Recycling - Don't Be A Victim This is a fairly common issue in computer recycling and yet, many of us who recycle computers still fail to observe basic safety measures to protect ourselves. I'm talking about identity theft and data protection. That PC or laptop you're using right now to read this post have bytes and bytes of personal data in it, that could have a devastating impact on you, if those are ever obtained by unscrupulous individuals. When the time comes for you to recycle that computer, here are a few things you can do to prevent that from happening. Read More Dell, HP see a big market in smaller companies Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) are pouring millions into a competition to win over smaller companies â€” and not just to sell them tech gear. The world's two largest PC makers have rolled out dueling initiatives to deliver a plethora of services â€” many of them free â€” to help small and midsize businesses, so-called SMBs, prosper. Smaller companies "will be the catalyst for the economy recovering," predicts Paul-Henri Ferrand, Dell's vice president of global strategy for SMBs. Dell and HP ultimately hope to broker lucrative management services along with their hardware, much as IBM does with big corporations. "This is all about being more efficient and finding access to new pockets of money," IDC analyst Ray Boggs says. Read More Re-Source Partners Asset Management, Inc supports the Lifecycle Services needs of some of the world’s largest corporations, OEMs, IT Resellers, VARs, IT Service Providers. The company adheres to ISO 14001 quality control measures. Some of Re-Source Partners’ services include: purchasing retired IT hardware, remarketing, recycling via ZERO LANDFILL methods, destroying data to Department of Defense levels – DOD 5220-22M, managing end of lease, warehousing, storage and deployment projects. The company delivers a full suite of detailed inventory, audit and reporting capabilities. Re-Source Partners works with PC, Server, Networking, Storage and Telecom Equipment.
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