Sometimes you can get a nice trade-in when you
upgrade your old phone to the latest model. When
that's not possible, many electronics vendors
offer a decent buy-back program. But if you're
already familiar with selling online through eBay
or similar services, you may find it convenient to
just put your old phone up for sale. When you
click "Erase everything" on the phone, all your
data is safely erased, right? Well, no. Forensic
data recovery by researchers at Avast found that
supposedly-erased phones harbored thousands of
items of personal data, some of them significant.
The research plan was simple. The researchers
purchased 20 used phones on eBay and dug into
them to see just what kind of information they
could recover. It makes sense that the
samples were all Android phones. That makes
sense. Used iPhones are tougher to crack. The
biggest possible problem with buying a used
iPhone is that you'll find it "iCloud locked,"
meaning it's probably stolen and therefore
unusable.

What They Found

Because the data on these phones wasn't
securely deleted, the researchers managed to
gather a veritable mountain of personal data.
They recovered over 40,000 photos, including over
1,500 photos of children, 750 racy photos of
women, and 250 of "what appear to be the
previous owner's manhood." Emails, contacts,
Google searches—just about anything that had
been on the phone was vulnerable. One phone
even included a completed loan application, with
all the relevant personal details.
"More than 80,000 used smartphones are for sale
daily on eBay in the U.S.," said Jude McColgan,
President of Mobile at Avast. "Along with their
phones, consumers may not realize they are
selling their memories and their identities. Images,
emails, and other documents deleted from phones
can be exploited for identity theft, blackmail, or
for even stalking purposes."
And yet, selling your old phone can be a nice way
to pick up some pocket money. If you decide to
do so, Avast has one simple recommendation.
Before you part with the old device, install the free
avast! Mobile Security & Antivirus, one of our
Editors' Choice products for mobile security. Set it
for "Thorough Wipe," and wipe all personal data.
Avast's thorough wipe overwrites everything
before deletion, rendering forensic recovery
impossible. Now you can sell it without selling
your privacy.

http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security-software/325313-by-selling-your-smartphone-you-re-selling-yourself

Na wah o

Mere Business Gimmicks. ..

*yimu*