Local workers at U.S. military bases in Afghanistan have stolen knives and watches, but also flash drives containing secret military documents, which have then shown up in the country's street markets, according to a report published this week in the Los Angeles Times.
The electronic documents marked with the "Secret" designation include a list of suspected militants targeted for "kill or capture" and memos discussing limiting the role of problematic Afghan government officials, the article stated. Some of the documents found by the reporter on stolen flash drives blame Pakistan--marketed as an ally in the U.S. War on Terror--for its inability to stop supply lines to guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan and for failing to stop some members of the military from helping militants conduct cross-border attacks on U.S. forces.
Used hard drives have always been a treasure trove. Three years ago, graduates students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology bought 158 drives on eBay and found that almost half had personal information on them, including more than 5,000 credit card numbers.
The U.S. military has a past of failing to secure electronic data on computers and storage devices as well. Three years ago, a security firm publicized a study of Internet-accessible government computers, showing that many sensitive documents still resided on the systems. Security experts also suspect that targeted Trojan-horse programs, aimed at gathering data from U.S. government systems, have infiltrated many systems. Medical records and other sensitive personal information on government employees and military workers have also been exposed.
Source: SecurityFocus
The electronic documents marked with the "Secret" designation include a list of suspected militants targeted for "kill or capture" and memos discussing limiting the role of problematic Afghan government officials, the article stated. Some of the documents found by the reporter on stolen flash drives blame Pakistan--marketed as an ally in the U.S. War on Terror--for its inability to stop supply lines to guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan and for failing to stop some members of the military from helping militants conduct cross-border attacks on U.S. forces.
Used hard drives have always been a treasure trove. Three years ago, graduates students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology bought 158 drives on eBay and found that almost half had personal information on them, including more than 5,000 credit card numbers.
The U.S. military has a past of failing to secure electronic data on computers and storage devices as well. Three years ago, a security firm publicized a study of Internet-accessible government computers, showing that many sensitive documents still resided on the systems. Security experts also suspect that targeted Trojan-horse programs, aimed at gathering data from U.S. government systems, have infiltrated many systems. Medical records and other sensitive personal information on government employees and military workers have also been exposed.
Source: SecurityFocus
