Consumers warned over mobile data security during recycling
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 12:59:14
British mobile phone owners are being advised that they should take more care when sending their mobile phone to be recycled as a result of fears over the ease with which private data can be accessed, even if it has been deleted.
ClickGreen reports that warnings have been made as a result of software which is capable of pulling information from phones which have undergone a full factory reset - software which should in theory, help to protect the privacy of the original owner.
The Forensic Data Removal tool is used by the police to find out information from seized handsets retrieved from criminals, but it could equally be turned against innocent members of the public by malicious third parties, according to security experts.
Mobile recycling companies are now looking to reassure consumers that they can indeed send off their handset to be safely recycled, because there are concerns that negative news will put people off taking this approach.
The important thing is to choose a reputable mobile recycler to whom to sell your old phone, so that you can be sure of receiving not just a competitive price but also a secure level of service.
There are many operators who can deliver permanent data deletion to customer handsets, so that even the retrieval tools which exist are rendered useless, while still making it possible to sell on the phone or reconstitute its internal components for spare parts.
The permanent deletion of data is not universally carried out by mobile recyclers, so it is worth comparing them online, to find out which is capable of living up to expectations when it comes to protecting privacy and, ideally, preventing fraud.
Equally, if you are going to sell your phone directly to a third party rather than recycling it, a simple factory reset may not be enough.
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