One in 10 second-hand hard drives still contain the original user's personal information, suggests an investigation by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). It purchased devices from auction sites such as eBay and computer fairs. Of the 200 hard disks collected, 11% contained personal information.
At least two of the drives had enough information to enable someone to steal the former owners' identities, the watchdog said. A separate survey by the ICO indicated that one in 10 people who had disposed of a mobile phone, computer or laptop had not wiped the device. 21% of users now chose to sell their old mobile phones, computers and laptops rather than get rid of them, it suggested. It added that the trend was even more common among 18-24 year-olds among whom the figure rose to 31%...Read more here--: BBC News - Watchdog finds undeleted data on second-hand disk drives