Protect used data tapes

The federal government is on the hot seat once again. Rep. Betty McCollum is calling for an investigation into whether federal agencies resold magnetic data tapes. InformationWeek reports that the feds wiped the tapes clean before reselling them, but a private company was able to recover sensitive information that was originally stored on the tapes. The tapes contained bank account numbers, tax and benefit information and expense reports. Investigators with the Government Accountability Office inspected the tapes and said they were clean. But Imation, the company that produced the tapes, was able to retrieve the highly sensitive data.

"Using a tape drive, a standard PC, programming knowledge, and understanding how data is written to media (which is publicly available), and a little more time than the GAO investigation, Imation personnel found the following recoverable sensitive data on these used tapes certified as clean: the origin of the tape, bank account numbers, employee information, travel expense reports, audit procedures and results, employee savings plan balances, international tax benefits documents," McCollum said in a letter calling for an investigation. McCollum said it is important to halt this kind of practice because it could expose individuals or national security data.

For more on securing data tapes:
- See this InformationWeek article