I must be vague on this one, but it's still a doozy! Where I am posted as security, IT switched out some old computer towers with new ones. The old ones went into a bin by a loading dock alongside bins of recycle, scrap material, etc. By no means were these bins in a defined secure location. Apparently, in the past few days, somebody helped themselves to the hard drives in the old towers. They must have gone out a side door and not through the main gate, because we would have noticed someone leaving with them. The problem is...IT NEVER WIPED THE HARD DRIVES! Yes, sensitive company information had been sitting in a box of scrap for almost a month and security never had a clue - Luckily, this is by no means our fault, as there's no way we would have known to watch this stuff and there was no way to do it as the bins are in a high traffic employee area. Why they did not secure the old computers until they had erased them is beyond me, but I get the feeling that one of the IT guy messed up, badly. We have a vague time frame of when the stuff went missing, and have been checking camera footage trying to catch a glimpse of anything helpful. It doesn't help that our site is under major construction and we have dozens of outside workers walking through ever day too. Wow. I'll be seeing if we've made any discoveries next week.
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Wow. Major Security Breach and Cleaning Up the Mess
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Wow. Major Security Breach and Cleaning Up the Mess
"If anyone wants this old box containing the broken bits of my former faith in humanity, I'll take your best offer now. You may be able to salvage a few of em' for parts..... " - Quote by ArgabargaTags: None
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Unlikely - someone stealing ONE drive might have wanted it as a drive for themselves. Stealing ALL of them shows that it's for resale. If they wanted to sell stuff as hardware, the RAM and CPUs have a higher dollar value per unit time to remove than hard drives (they just pop out, hard drives are screwed in).
With all the hard drives, and nothing else, being taken, it looks like they were stolen for the data on them.Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.
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Wiping isn't good enough... as the BOFH has indicated in the past, the only way to be sure is to take a mallet to them . I give up a ton of old computer hardware to a co-worker of mine that recycles/revives old kit. All the old HDDS, however, were given the 5 pound sledge treatment before the went to the local recycle center.But the paint on me is beginning to dry
And it's not what I wanted to be
The weight on me
Is Hanging on to a weary angel - Sister Hazel
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Quoth Ophbalance View PostWiping isn't good enough... as the BOFH has indicated in the past, the only way to be sure is to take a mallet to them .
(for the record, a powerful magnet over the platters is the most effective method short of melting them. Unless you're taking the mallet to the platters themselves, the casing will prevent any serious damage. Some drives even have a package of magnetic pellets that spread over the platters when ruptured.)
That said, IT really dropped the ball on this one. The drives should have been sent to a refurbishing company which does proper data wipes and rebuild drives for this very purpose.I AM the evil bastard!
A+ Certified IT Technician
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Quoth lordlundar View PostAh, ever the rookie.
(for the record, a powerful magnet over the platters is the most effective method short of melting them. Unless you're taking the mallet to the platters themselves, the casing will prevent any serious damage. Some drives even have a package of magnetic pellets that spread over the platters when ruptured.)
That said, IT really dropped the ball on this one. The drives should have been sent to a refurbishing company which does proper data wipes and rebuild drives for this very purpose.
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Quoth sstabeler View Postthat's why you keep using the mallet until you can confirm the platters are destroyed. (Although you are right that it can be a significantly less effort to open the HDD up and remove the platters.
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I bin them inside the server room. Once I get a nice stack I spend an afternoon taking them apart.
However there is a push to use ceramic platter drives. There is a nice hole on the drives where you can ram a screwdriver in and shatter the platters.
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Update.
I had an idea and checked craigslist; no luck. I then thought what the hey, check ebay. Luckily, IT had one hard drive of that kind left and so could supply specs. I searched for newest listings and listings in our area. What do you know? One seller happens to be selling exactly what we are missing, and in the same quantity. Apparently, it happened that another type of hard drive was taken as well. Oh, another seller is selling that one too. And they're both in-city local. I've suggested the idea that we get someone unknown to 'purchase' some of the drives so we can get the name and address of the sellers, and maybe get a match. Just call me Sherlock"If anyone wants this old box containing the broken bits of my former faith in humanity, I'll take your best offer now. You may be able to salvage a few of em' for parts..... " - Quote by Argabarga
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Quoth LillFilly View PostUpdate.
I had an idea and checked craigslist; no luck. I then thought what the hey, check ebay. Luckily, IT had one hard drive of that kind left and so could supply specs. I searched for newest listings and listings in our area. What do you know? One seller happens to be selling exactly what we are missing, and in the same quantity. Apparently, it happened that another type of hard drive was taken as well. Oh, another seller is selling that one too. And they're both in-city local. I've suggested the idea that we get someone unknown to 'purchase' some of the drives so we can get the name and address of the sellers, and maybe get a match. Just call me Sherlock
PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.
There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!
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Updated update:
Ok, well at first my boss was a little iffy about the information I'd found so pointed-out exactly what and how I'd gone about my investigation. He sent the information and listing to the higher-ups, then calls me to his office. Looks like I'm up for a commendation . Turns out the listing belongs to an employee and that they may have been selling company stuff for a long time. In short, my boss told me that I am awesome. Isn't it crazy what following a hunch can do?"If anyone wants this old box containing the broken bits of my former faith in humanity, I'll take your best offer now. You may be able to salvage a few of em' for parts..... " - Quote by Argabarga
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Quoth LillFilly View PostUpdated update:
Ok, well at first my boss was a little iffy about the information I'd found so pointed-out exactly what and how I'd gone about my investigation. He sent the information and listing to the higher-ups, then calls me to his office. Looks like I'm up for a commendation . Turns out the listing belongs to an employee and that they may have been selling company stuff for a long time. In short, my boss told me that I am awesome. Isn't it crazy what following a hunch can do?Life: Reality TV for deities. - dalesys
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