The common view is that, if you're going to sell your old Android smartphone, all you need to do to expunge all your personal data is to reset the device to factory settings. Not so, according to a team of British researchers who have found that some personal information, like login information, photographs or messages might survive the reset and be available to be called back up.
The researchers at the University of Cambridge took 21 smartphones by five manufacturers and returned them to their factory settings. In each case, it was possible to resurrect text messages, login data or conversations conducted via messaging apps.
Internal SD cards also continue to carry sensitive data after resets, such as photos and videos. In about 80 per cent of cases after a reset, it was still possible to extract emails, calendar information or Facebook login details.
The good news is that there are ways to protect your private information if you do sell your old phone. The Consumer Central of the German state of North Rhine Westphalia advises hanging on to the SD card that came with the phone when you sell it on. There are also special downloadable apps for scrubbing phones, but a subsequent test by the British researchers showed they do not provide an absolute guarantee either.
In general, memory is only really erased when it's written over. TUEV Sued, a German technical service corporation, suggests one low-tech method. Reset the phone and then, when the phone has no personal settings, start the video camera and record a white wall or a tabletop until the memory is full. Bear in mind, this can take a while, depending upon memory size. The safest method, of course, is still to just destroy the memory chips after you're done using the phone.
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