£5 computer sold on eBay had customer records on it

A second hand computer hard drive containing customer records from one of Europe's largest insurance firms has been bought for just £5 on internet auction site eBay.

When the drive was plugged into a computer, thousands of customer records including pension plans, financial information and confidential emails were revealed. In the wrong hands, the data could have been used to defraud customers, experts claim.

Security firm Pointsec bought 100 drives to research what happens to second hand computers. They found 70 contained confidential data, including passwords and even credit card details.

Pointsec said it could not name the insurance firm for legal reasons but contacted it to point out the error.