Upon releasing the the this week, the data protection regulatory agency urged consumers to take better care of their data. It also released individuals can securely delete personal information from old devices.

"Many people will presume that pressing the delete button on a computer file means that it is gone forever," U.K. Information Commissioner Christopher Graham in a statement. "However this information can easily be recovered,"

The ICO is the independent regulatory agency that oversees compliance with the U.K. Data Protection Act of 1998.

Their investigation found that 11% of used drives being resold contained residual personal information.

The agency last week also released the results of a survey that found 65% of people pass on their old phones, computers and laptops to other users -- 44% give equipment away for free while around one in five (21%) sell the hardware.