How often do you upgrade your electronic device? I’m talking about ANYTHING, not just a computer. IPods, Ipads, MP3 players, Phones, Tablets. For this discussion lets call Personal Electronics anything that connects to a computer or the internet, anything that stores data on it.
Pre-Example:
MY son has an Old Zune Mp3 player, I had completely forgotten that this device has Wifi on it, hence it has my WIFI code stored in memory. While it doesn’t have any banking info, he entered his address in it for the OWNER info. Now if that is found by a miscreant then they have my Wifi code and my address. and then access to anything connected to my home network.
Your Carelessness:
So now you are getting ride of that old computer, handheld device. Maybe selling on ebay, or if your brave, on Craig’s list. What do you do about the data? It needs to be obliterated. Hey don’t forget the backup copy that you created to restore the device in case you broke it. With an forensically cleaned device, a backup can restore it to a fixed point in time prior to the obliteration.
Media cards within those devices should be KEPT and not given with the item unless they substantially increase the price and you cannot use that storage media for something else.
The Solution:
We have forensic wiping equipment and software to clean the media, weather its a removable card, USB drive, or the embedded memory in device. That wipe can take DAYS per device. If you are gifting it to a friend there is probably less concern about removing the drive as just obliterating the OLD personal data within it. Apple IOS and Android devices have a factory WIPE feature, but we have recently done an Iphone 5 that was wiped (not by us) and I was able to recover a dozen or so voicemails from the device.
For Android here are some :
For Apple:
Apple Support – to wipe device
An Awesome Post from CDNET that I can NOT put in any better terms.
how-to/how-to-wipe-your-phone-or-tablet-before-selling/
At a minimum TAKE OUT your hard drives before you sell, give or DONATE.
