Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Used Smartphones and PDAs for Sale on eBay Reveal Massive Volume of Sensitive Data

Not unlike computers, deleting info from cell phones and PDAs is not as easy as it seems. A study released by Trust Digital, Inc details:
Trust Digital engineers recovered nearly 27,000 pages of personal, corporate, and device data from nine of 10 mobile devices purchased through eBay for the project, including a smartphone sold by an employee of a major corporation. The salvaged data included personal banking and tax information, corporate sales activity notes, corporate client records, product roadmaps, contact address books, phone and Web logs, calendar records, personal and business correspondence, computer passwords, user medication information, and other private, competitive or potentially damaging material.
Tipped to this by an almost lighthearted -- but worth reading -- AP article here.

1 comment:

Elke Kolodinski said...

Years ago I donated an old PowerMac I hadn't used for years before that to a charity that uses computers to rehabilitate ex-cons -- teach them how to type and whatnot. Later I realized I hadn't even looked at what might've been on there. After reflection, I felt safe that all they'd get from me were some college papers on Shakespeare and Chaucer and a few months of frustrated journal entries. It's an easy thing to forget how much of your personal info is locked into your electronic devices.