There’s nothing really new here, but it’s a useful reminder. Natalie O’Brien reports:
Criminal networks are feeding off Australians’ lust for new technology by skimming data from computers dumped in Africa and Asia – and using it for blackmail, fraud and identity theft.
They will pay as much as $200 on the black market for discarded computer hard drives, which they mine for bank details, credit card numbers and account passwords.
These hard drives are among the mountains of electronic waste earmarked for recycling here. Instead, they are illegally shipped to developing countries by operators seeking bigger profits.
And as an additional reminder:
In another case, the records of a major medical services company included the highly confidential medical histories of patients and evaluations of doctors’ performance.
Why are major medical services recycling hard drives, anyway? Some drives need to be securely wiped and destroyed.
Read more on The Courier.