Staples Selling Computers Containing Old User Data
Staples stores in Canada have some explaining to do after a government audit found evidence that the office supply chain was violating Canadian privacy law by selling used computers and storage drives that still contained data belonging to the previous owner.
According to the CBC, the Canadian Privacy Commissioner's office performed an audit or 149 storage devices (computers, USB drives, and memory cards) that had supposedly undergone a memory wipe and were intended for resale by Staples. Unfortunately, the audit still managed to discover data — anything from bank and tax information to passport numbers and academic transcripts — on 54 of the devices.
Laptops had the highest incidence of residual data, with 17 of 20 audited computers still containing data after going through Staples' memory wipe procedure. The problem was not localized to one store or region, as the audit looked at 17 different stores in seven provinces. Only two stores' devices showed no evidence of leftover data.
