Sunday, October 17, 2010
Second hand mobiles contain personal info
Be careful while discarding your mobile phone. A recent research has found that many customers are unknowingly passing out much of the personal data to strangers when they discard mobile phones, with photos and credit card numbers and pins.
An analysis of 50 handsets purchased from second-hand resellers on eBay found that more than half contained personal messages or photos, according to the research launched by mobile and forensics experts Disklabs. Over 60 percent contained phone numbers left on a call log.
"The worst thing a consumer can do is hope or assume that the person buying the phone will remove the data," said Simon Steggles, Director of Disklabs. "Any data left on the phone is effectively open to the public domain. That could be as varied as intimate photos, videos and text messages ... People hit 'delete' and think that means it is gone forever, but that's not the case," added Steggles.
Researchers found porn on nine of the 50 handsets, while video and calendar information were also still on nine handsets. Personal security information, including home address, credit card numbers and pin numbers, was on 26 of the handsets.
Nine of the handsets had had their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number changed - indicating they had been lost or stolen at some point. Mobiles store user data in different places, depending on hardware model, software and user preferences.
Deleting SMS messages, for example, is unlikely to completely remove that data from the phone. Steggles said a factory reset is the safest and most reliable way to erase personal data before disposing of or selling a handset.
An analysis of 50 handsets purchased from second-hand resellers on eBay found that more than half contained personal messages or photos, according to the research launched by mobile and forensics experts Disklabs. Over 60 percent contained phone numbers left on a call log.
"The worst thing a consumer can do is hope or assume that the person buying the phone will remove the data," said Simon Steggles, Director of Disklabs. "Any data left on the phone is effectively open to the public domain. That could be as varied as intimate photos, videos and text messages ... People hit 'delete' and think that means it is gone forever, but that's not the case," added Steggles.
Researchers found porn on nine of the 50 handsets, while video and calendar information were also still on nine handsets. Personal security information, including home address, credit card numbers and pin numbers, was on 26 of the handsets.
Nine of the handsets had had their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number changed - indicating they had been lost or stolen at some point. Mobiles store user data in different places, depending on hardware model, software and user preferences.
Deleting SMS messages, for example, is unlikely to completely remove that data from the phone. Steggles said a factory reset is the safest and most reliable way to erase personal data before disposing of or selling a handset.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment