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Troubled Dot-Coms May Expose Confidential Client Data
By Jay Lyman
NewsFactor Network
August 8, 2001
Internet consultant Viant Corp. is investigating whether sensitive data was left on
computers auctioned off after the closing of its San Francisco office.
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Following rumors of sensitive data remaining on the hard drives of auctioned company
computers, Internet consultant Viant Corp. is investigating whether confidential client
or cororate information was placed at risk.
Word of the ex-corporate computers that still contained company information first
came to the Web site F***edcompany.com,
according to site founder Phil Kaplan, who told NewsFactor Network that the anonymous
tips came from "some people who had their laptops auctioned and from people who
bought laptops."
Kaplan said his site was also informed of a similar situation with now-defunct
MarchFirst, an interactive consulting agency that fell victim to the dot-com
implosion and was forced to sell off assets earlier this year.
To the Bottom Of It
A spokeswoman for Boston-based Viant said the
company outsourced the sale of fewer than 100 computers to auctioneer Dovebid when
Viant closed a San Francisco office in the spring of this year.
"They are under contract to wipe or clean the hard drives so there are no
remaining files," Viant's Connie Bienfait told NewsFactor. "We are looking into
any chance that wasn't done completely. We believe it [was], but we are taking
this very seriously."
Viant, whose corporate clients include Lucent, Compaq and Kinko's, is working with
Dovebid to find out if any client materials have been compromised, Bienfait said.
"We would only be concerned if there were files that were able to be entered," she
said, adding most files would be protected by passwords and hard to access.
Situation Unclear
Dovebid spokeswoman Lisa Hawes told NewsFactor that
the source of the breached data rumors made the issue unclear.
"You never know how much of that is true and how much isn't," she said.
Still, the auction company is working with Viant to investigate the matter,
according to Hawes, who likened the computer data to something left in the
drawer of an auctioned desk.
"They're indemnified," she said of Forest City, California-based Dovebid.
"They don't actually purchase the items from the customer. They're just
the intermediary."
Erasure Priority
The erasure of confidential, sensitive or potentially embarrassing information on
an old computer hard drive is one of the main concerns of companies that auction
equipment, according to TechSmart vice
president of product sales Tom Sager, whose Long Island, New York-based company
is involved in asset value recovery for IT equipment.
"For people who are retiring equipment, that's usually one of the top two or three
hot buttons in getting it done right," Sager told NewsFactor. "This is pretty high
on the list."
While he called full erasure of data standard operating procedure, Sager said the
fast demise of some companies and less scrupulous practices -- employee sales or
equipment movement -- can lead to compromised data.
Can't Keep Track
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
legislative counsel Chris Hoofnagle told NewsFactor the issue highlights weak privacy
protection in the U.S.
"The problem here is most of the practices -- because of weak legislation -- allow
the transfer of data without authorization or auditing," he said, adding most
transactions are not brought into public light.
Hoofnagle said that while EPIC does not believe corporations have a right to privacy, the
employees of the companies involved may have personal information included in
the data on computers for sale.
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September 13, 2002
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