Posted on 01/26/2009 3:46:27 AM PST by decimon
A New Zealand man has found confidential US military files on an MP3 player he bought in an Oklahoma thrift shop, it has been reported.
Chris Ogle, 29, paid $15 for the player and when he plugged it into his computer he found 60 pages of military data, Television One News said.
The files contained the names and personal details of US soldiers, including some who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as information about equipment deployed to bases and a mission briefing.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
ooops I’m guessing somebody is in trouble
Hopefully this has ended with the new DoD policies.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58951
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DOD bans the use of removable, flash-type drives on all government computers
By Jennifer H. Svan and David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, November 21, 2008
The Defense Department has banned the use of removable flash media and storage devices from all government computers, according to a series of notices put out by the services this week.
It should remain confidential as long as it doesn’t end up in the hands of any anti-American organizations, like The New York Times.
I think someone didn’t know how to clear the data or perhaps the player is hot. The guy who has it seems a decent fellow. They need to fly him back and put him up somewhere nice for a complimentary Tour of America.
If anything can be pinned down. Looks like the files were created a few years ago.
I forgot the messiah the glorious was in office now. Nothing will happen.
“I think someone didn’t know how to clear the data or perhaps the player is hot.”
You don’t put classified data on a flash player period, end of story.
That way if they get stolen or lost or hacked the data is not also lost.
So, instead of deleting the files and quietly calling the appropriate military authority with a heads up, he goes public. Guess we know whose side HE is on!
Hmmm..., I wonder where in Oklahoma... just curious, but the article doesn’t say...
The right side, IMO. If it doesn't go public then nothing corrective is done.
That is exactly what I thought when I read this. We can hope.
Spy’s “dead drop” gone bad?
Could be some mole downloaded the data onto the flash drive and hide it in an inconspicuous location. His “cutout” or handler got spooked and didn’t pick it up or some kid found it first and tried to pawn it. Kiwi might not know the difference between a thrift store and a pawn shop.
Or it was stashed in a desk or file cabinet, which was donated to the thrift store. A worker at the thrift store discovers the flash drive, but the donor dropped the desk/file cabinet off without filling out contact paperwork, so they can’t contact them to return the flash drive. So they just put the flash drive out for sale too, without bothering to check the contents.
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