Private Data From the Government: Ironic Edition

People rarely stop to think about their data. I always found it amusing...working in a repair shop I have more than once run across data that you'd think from the average Joe that had walked in wouldn't be downloading. I've had calls while working with an Internet Service Provider asking how to get an accidental wallpaper image removed before the caller's wife came home (you shouldn't have clicked the "set as wallpaper" while staring at those, sir...). And yet these people don't give a second thought to the data they're exposing when they send their computers off for repair to some stranger.

Turns out than in most bureaucracies the problem still remains, usually due to oversights, overwork, understaffing...but in the end, the problem still remains and there are "incidents".

The part that is sad is that even for people like me who do take time to think about these issues there is plenty of data on me through the government and various businesses (you know those cards you use for discounts at stores? They don't do that out of kindness, boys and girls...your shopping habits are worth big money) and I have no control over what is done with those records.

I just wanted to remind everyone of this after I ran across this story here about American government information being found on a hard disk purchased in Ghana (that's a country, in case you're an American where ignorance is a freedom we tend to like taking full advantage of...HA!). For $40. The data included, among other things, information on government contract information. Awarded because of the ability of the vendor to keep date secure.

The vendor is Northrop Grumman. You may of heard of them. They do a lot with our defense department...one of the big names in the world of toys that make things go boom.

They blame it on a vendor they hired to securely dispose of their hardware. The third party vendor doesn't know how it happened.

Whoopsie.