A 2GB radio announcer in Sydney broadcast, on 10 March 2011, said that he was in possession of a computer memory stick containing Defence classified information that was allegedly found on a Qantas flight.
The memory stick was collected by Defence staff from the radio station later that day.
Initial analysis indicates that the device does contain Defence information, none of which is highly classified and some which is unclassified and available over the internet.
The owner of the memory stick has been identified.
He is a former Defence member, and is now a contractor to the department.
Defence takes any compromise of its information seriously, and the circumstances surrounding the loss of the thumb drive are being investigated.
Our comment: forget memory sticks – stick to cloud computing!