Used Android phones give up a lot of information about their previous owners

[Guest]

Don't mean to poo in you cereal, losers... but that looks a whole damn load like an iPod - not an iPhone.

Also, anyone really concerned about doing a data wipe on their digital storage media (flash drives, memory cards, pc hard drives, smart phones, digital cameras etc, etc.) should look up using DD to zero-fill the device / partition they want cleared.

 

[captaincranky]

Don't mean to poo in you cereal, losers... but that looks a whole damn load like an iPod - not an iPhone.

Well, it's like they say, "turn them upside down they all look alike".

Also, anyone really concerned about doing a data wipe on their digital storage media (flash drives, memory cards, pc hard drives, smart phones, digital cameras etc, etc.) should look up using DD to zero-fill the device / partition they want cleared.

Gosh, I've heard of "Dariks Boot & Nuke", I have Iolo's, "Drive Scrubber", which makes me familiar with the concept. But, I don't have a smart phone, nor do I want one.

So, why don't you run along and scrub your little toy phone of everything the NSA already knows, and leave the condescension and epithets to the professionals?

 

[Guest]

Different storage drives work in different ways. Plus you have to consider not only the hardware part but also the software part. For instance hard disk drives use magnetic techniques to write data. When you delete something, as mentioned in this article, you just delete the pointer to that location on your drive and the space is labeled as unused. All the data remains. But after you write new information on top of the old one, the latter is still partially recoverable. This is because there is still residual magnetic field and using more sensitive equipment you can pick it up and read the data. Deleting information form old hard drives is achieved first by repeatedly writing scrambled data on the whole disk then shredding it.
On SSD drives it's much simpler. In order to completely delete everything from the drive you have to cut off it's power supply. All SSD drives have a small battery built in. If it's removed all data is wiped with no chance of recovery. Keep in mind flash drives and SD cards work differently.
So to summarise, it depends on the kind of storage device you have and on the software you are using to wipe it. Best you can do is format it and then write random data then format it again and repeat a couple of times.

 

[captaincranky]

Different storage drives work in different ways. Plus you have to consider not only the hardware part but also the software part. For instance hard disk drives use magnetic techniques to write data. When you delete something, as mentioned in this article, you just delete the pointer to that location on your drive and the space is labeled as unused. All the data remains. But after you write new information on top of the old one, the latter is still partially recoverable. This is because there is still residual magnetic field and using more sensitive equipment you can pick it up and read the data. Deleting information form old hard drives is achieved first by repeatedly writing scrambled data on the whole disk then shredding it.
On SSD drives it's much simpler. In order to completely delete everything from the drive you have to cut off it's power supply. All SSD drives have a small battery built in. If it's removed all data is wiped with no chance of recovery. Keep in mind flash drives and SD cards work differently.
So to summarise, it depends on the kind of storage device you have and on the software you are using to wipe it. Best you can do is format it and then write random data then format it again and repeat a couple of times.

If everybody would stop paying their bills with a smart phone, and listening to Geico's "Maxwell the Pig", nobody would have any data on their phones to worry about.

So someone else knows your Granny's phone number, big deal. It's a landline and it's a published number anyway,

Let's face it, this generation is stupid enough to allow an insurance company to put a device into their car's diagnostic port, and let it, (Progressive), "drive over their shoulder", in a manner of speaking. If anyone deserves to have their data stolen, it's got to be the imbeciles running around with, "snapshot" plugged into their car's computer.

The manly way to wipe a drive is to slug it into a geriatric microwave oven, set the timer to, "99:99", and hit "start", This is the electronic equivalent of a murder / suicide pact, and lots of fun to watch.

 

[Kibaruk]

Ok so no one has clarified it so far... when you "wipe" a phone clean (Or for that matter any storage device) you just erase the pointer table but the information is still there, now, if I make an encrypted file of the same size as the memory and overwrite it, then "securely" erase it, could someone get any information out of it? Sounds logic that they shouldn't, but I don't know.

 

[Geforcepat]

"The guy also apparently had an appetite for kinky adult material."

Who doesn't?

I know right

 

[Jad Chaar]

It's always a pleasure to see the Apple-hating public of this website being told their asses off.
Maybe, with a great deal of luck, this time they will learn that their constantly negative attitude about one company is just as senseless and annoying as the ferverous devotion others have for that same brand.

Amen! I'm a nerd, I like all tech; but especially Apple stuff. It does just work! The whole feud annoys me. I like what I like for my reasons, you like what you like for your reasons. You can try and change my mind, but you won't. End of story.

The first time guests actually post rational comments (y).

 

[captaincranky]

Ok so no one has clarified it so far... when you "wipe" a phone clean (Or for that matter any storage device) you just erase the pointer table but the information is still there, now, if I make an encrypted file of the same size as the memory and overwrite it, then "securely" erase it, could someone get any information out of it? Sounds logic that they shouldn't, but I don't know.

This is the case, (I believe), with the Windows, "Recycle Bin". The pointer table is erased, but the data still exists. Ostensibly, as that area is reused, the original data gets overwritten many times, and eventually is rendered unrecoverable. OK that's nice, but you're putting more of your data in its place. So basically, "I have good news, and I have bad news, which would you like to hear first"?

The latest versions of AVG Free, have a "Secure Shredder", in the program. This is in the recycle bin context menu. CCleaner also, (allegedly), includes a tool to clean up unused portions of your HDD without a reformat.

In case you want general government/military specifications on data removal, here they are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_erasure.

As I said earlier, tools for doing multiple overwrites are common for desktop or laptop PC.

One has to assume data removal on phones would follow similar protocols.

 

[Emexrulsier]

This article suggests it's android phones that you should be weary about but tbh it is anything with storage or memory chips. Also I've bought boxes and boxes and "wrote off" phones which included phones from all manufacturers and makes and models. Many of these were insurance writes offs maybe damaged iphones these aren't detroyed but sold on as spares. You wouldn't believe the data I have pulled off these some very interesting photos and yes at times they have included nude shots and sexual acts. So it's not just second hands phones you have to worry about but what happens to the parts when you send your phone in for repair.

 

[SNGX1275]

...Deleting information form old hard drives is achieved first by repeatedly writing scrambled data on the whole disk then shredding it.

I see or hear people say this from time to time. If you are going to go through the trouble of physically destroying a hard drive, what is the point of taking the hours and hours it will take to write junk data for it if the platters are going to be shredded. Its just nonsense.

 

[Guest]

I've read all of the posts in this topic. This issue/topic is nothing new (with all phones regardless of brand or era). Keeping this short and simple.

Here's what to do:
A. Remove the SD Card from the phone and never put it back in.
- From phones that you no longer need/want, is damaged/destroyed, you plan on storing in a box somewhere, or you plan on selling or throwing away. The next owner/seller or trash bin can go spend their penny on a new one. *You can always re-purpose the SD Card in an IPad/Pod, Computer/Laptop (with a card reader), or Digital Camera, etc.

B. When Offered a Phone Replacement for a failed repair attempt, politely ask if you can see your old phone again, remove the SD Card yourself, then hand the empty phone back.

C. (Failed Repair) Otherwise, Demand to have the "Original SD Card" back from the phone. Never let a repair/service vendor keep your SD Card. Be Persistent and Do not leave without your SD Card. *Do B above first.

D. If they inquire whether you want to re-use it in your new/replacement phone: Your choice, depending on how much data you'd have to manually re-do (Is it too much trouble to re-do your data?). If you choose not to re-use and/or the attempt to re-use it in a new phone fails, Do B & C above (Get your SD Card out of the phone and into your pocket).

E. Another Circumstance: In the event a vendor/repair person might state a ludicrously high price for a new SD Card, go buy a better priced one somewhere else and tell them to use that one (You don't have to mention that you just bought it - Just make sure it's the same/similar make and model SD Card).

Data Storage, Deleting/Formatting
Simple explanation: is no different than a book.
- Deleting a file only removes the name or entry from the Table of Contents (File Allocation Table).
- All phones only use Quick Formatting or Format /q which deletes and rewrites a new Table of Contents (FAT/NTFS/whatever format) and does nothing to the pages (stored data).
- The Table of Contents simply points to the Page Number (Storage Address) which for a computer does not have to be physically in order.
*If you want to remove all data on an SD Card, use a computer with a card reader, format and overwrite it with the computer. Or as stated in A above, you can always re-purpose the SD Card and over write it with any another device.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[cliffordcooley]

How about using the phone till it stops working! Then the fun options for destruction are easier to exercise.

 

[wizardB]

This is probably the case for every smartphone though. Isn't deleted data not completely gone until something is rewritten over it? That is probably the case with all forms of storage, no matter the OS.

btw its kinda ironic that the topic says Android but the article pic is clearly an iphone....

Doesn't even apply to any iPhones, the secure wipe either deletes the encryption keys for hardware encrypted phones (anything from the 3GS on) or it actually overwrites all the data.

Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2110

Except it doesn't work so Apple has no leg up here unless you include the tacky half eaten piece of fruit on the cover

 

[cliffordcooley]

Except it doesn't work so Apple has no leg up here unless you include the tacky half eaten piece of fruit on the cover

You mean like you don't work unless you consider the tacky wizard moniker on your profile.

I'm sorry, I usually don't act this badly. It's your statement that is confusing. Because you didn't specify how the device doesn't work, but yet somehow the company emblem does.