That mobile phone your traded in for another device or cash could just be a target for hackers who’re increasingly discovering used or new handsets to be goldmines of personal information. For those of you who aren’t aware of it, content you’ve deleted from your gadget remains recoverable until it is overwritten.
The danger is more pronounced if you’re using a non-BlackBerry or non-Apple phone since the said companies are a little better than competitors at offering secure wipe. If you are on Android, then your mobile phone is more likely to be vulnerable to mischief makers since the OS is not very good at keeping your dirty little secrets away from prying eyes.
When you erase a photo, video or any other content from your handset, only the index information for the file is wiped clean. The stuff you want to get rid of is still present and waiting to be overwritten. Until this happens, the deleted files can be easily obtained by a hacker with the help of recovery tools, as Avast’s experiment with eBay smartphones was able to prove.
Google’s KitKat update arrives with select features to address security issues to a certain extent. There are various downloadable apps and services which promise to keep the information on your handset safe from spies. One way for you to make sure that crucial data remains a secret would be to delete all your content, fill up your device’s memory with something less important and then erase this too.
Check out: Hacking virus ‘Bladabindi’ could be lurking in your pen drives and OS
Indian School of Ethical Hacking’s Sandeep Sengupta warns consumers that mobile phones are the next big target for hackers, says BGR India. As an increasing number of people use such gadgets for storing intimate photos, online banking, buying products off the web and so on, there are more opportunities for trouble makers to extract personal data from lost, stolen or resold smartphones.