The study, sponsored by BT and Sims Lifecycle Services, researched by Wales' University of Glamorgan, America's Longwood University and Australia's Edith Cowan University, also dug up secret data from the German Embassy in Paris and business dealings from a US bank.

Around 300 hard drives from he UK, America, Australia and other countries, bought through computer auctions and on eBay were studied.

"It is clear from the sensitive information revealed by this study that a wide range of organisations, businesses and individuals all over the world are fundamentally failing in their duty to properly manage sensitive data when their IT equipment passes outside of their control," Sims Recycling Solutions Kumar Radhakrishnan said.

"It is vital to realise that residual data can still be accessed years after the equipment has been discarded and in the wrong hands could have not only financial consequences but potential implications for national security," Radhakrishnan added.

The study's most prominent discovery was that of a disk revealing details of test launch procedures for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) ground to air missile system.