Are You Effectively Wiping Your Old Smartphone Data?

Are you nostalgic about all the cell phones you’ve acquired in your lifetime? Do you ever consider selling your old devices on third-party platforms or back to your service carrier? Wait a minute! Make sure you stay informed on the risks first!

Recently, Avast an anti-virus company, purchased 20 different phones on eBay and took it as an opportunity to test some of their off-the-shelf data recovery and forensics tools to see what data they could recover. From those mere 20 devices, Avast recovered 40,000 photos. This included 1500 family photos, and embarrassing pornographic photos, 750 emails, and 250 contacts with names, addresses, SMS messages, and even private financial legal documents.

Often times, wiping your device data does not actually remove anything from existence, but simply rearranges where the data is stored. It is also noted, that the 20 phones purchased by Avast were all Android phones.

So when you delete data off an old device, can you say with 100% confidence that the data is gone – wiped completely from existence? Don’t hesitate, read these tips so you can ensure all your data is gone, and that it cannot be restored.

• Discover all methods of smartphone security so they remain in place when you decide to get rid of it
• Once you’re ready to sell, get rid of, recycle, or donate your device make sure you remove your SIM card
• On iPhones, use the Default Erase Setting – on Androids, encrypt your phone manually, and then erase
• Rely on a trusted IT provider to keep up with the best security strategies

Follow these tips to ensure the security of your data when getting rid of an old device, don’t fall into an unfortunate situation that leaves you vulnerable, take action today and protect yourself.

For more information on wiping data effectively, contact our company at Compunet InfoTech. You can reach us at (604) 986-8170 or you can send us an email at info@compunet.ca. Our team won’t allow your information to land in the wrong hands.

Compunet provides business IT services and IT support across Vancouver, North Vancouver, Richmond and across the Lower Mainland.

Author: Joe Martin, Date: 2014-08-04