Posted on 06/07/2013 11:00:19 AM PDT by rickmichaels
EDMONTON – When it comes to cell phones, there always seems to be a better model hitting the market. But before you ditch your old phone, make sure it’s completely wiped clean of all your personal information.
That may seem obvious enough, but as Adam McKale saw firsthand, it doesn’t always happen. After switching his broken iPhone for a refurbished one at the Apple store in Southgate mall, he couldn’t believe what popped up when he plugged the device into his computer.
“It was the guy’s name, all of his contacts, a bunch of his music – which isn’t so bad – but then 500 plus of his pictures. And what I saw was pretty shocking,” said the Edmonton radio deejay.
“More than vacation photos, I’ll put it that way.”
McKale immediately called the Apple store to let them know about the situation. The person he spoke to told him to bring in the phone right away. McKale felt he should first let the former owner know his personal information had been compromised, though.
Using the information and photos on the phone, he managed to find him on Facebook and send him a message; now, he wants others to know that this can happen to them if they’re not careful.
“I know mistakes happen, for sure. But something like this, I just wouldn’t want it to get swept under the rug that easily,” McKale says. “I’d like other people be warned about the certain things you have to do to make sure that the information is off your phone when you go into the store.”
Brian Hamilton, of the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, says this isn’t the first such incident he’s heard of. While he can’t comment on this specific case, he says all businesses and retailers have a responsibility to protect customer information.
“But you can’t always count on it as we have seen in the past,” Hamilton says. That’s why he encourages people to delete their personal information themselves, or risk it getting into the wrong hands.
Aside from private photos, passwords, and banking information, there could be a lot more details on your phone than you realize.
“You’d be surprised at what’s on there. For example, if you use your smart phone on your home wireless network, you could be exposing your home network if the person can find one where you live. That’s just one example,” says Hamilton. “There’s all kinds of little bits of information that could be useful to someone who had malicious intent.”
According to the technology experts Global News spoke to, the best way to make sure all your information gets deleted is to restore your phone to its factory settings. Each phone is different, so either check your manual for instructions on how to do that, talk to a service centre, or look online.
Apple did not return Global News‘ calls for comment.
People should wipe their data. I am still surprised that, as a last resort, Apple’s refurbishment process didn’t wipe it anyway.
Unlike most doofuses I know I keep very little on my phone. Only numbers and text and email (which are deleted once read). No pictures, videos, password etc...
When I am at home if I use wifi I enter the router key manually every time.
I always throw away old cell phones. I NEVER turn them in anywhere any more than I’d turn in an old hard drive.
Not a problem for me. My last old cell phone went in my clay pigeon launcher and I scored it with the 12ga.
Go “Office Space” on ‘em, while the NSA is listening in.
LOL , way too late for that, he already has all your information.
Fry’s Electronics here in Silicon Valley was (is?) infamous for putting returned / defective computers and hard drives right back on the shelf, with these kinds of stories being a local perennial.
Who is going to wipe it for you? Verizon, AT&T, US Cellular?
Don't Wipe it Waste it.
There was a show on tv the other day about how anyone with the right skills could pull just about anything off a hard drive no matter what. Bottom line was about the only solution was to smash it into a million pieces and then bbq it.
A friend bought a car that had been a rental and found a bunch of leasing papers in it. They tried to give the papers back to the dealer but they couldn’t be bothered. Names, addresses, SS#, credit card numbers, everything. Good thing they were honest and dumped it all on the burn pile.
Song like Sandi Patti singing the National Anthem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiLRHkkrp48
Even controversial website like Freerepublic.com
I am sure much of this info is already there for many of us.
How often to you get a chance for free advocacy of you views?
While the machine's memory was completely wiped and a new version of the executive program was installed when we took delivery, the memory was installed in a separate locked safe inside the machine. It also has provisions for running the machine with the screen blank so the operator could not know the dimensions of what he was cutting.
The trucker we sent to pick it up came back pissed too. They made him leave his cellphone, belt, wallet and shoes before entering the secure area. The image of a rough trucker navaigating his rig through the complex without shoes or a belt still makes me laugh.
makes me wonder if all your pictures can and are being auto uploaded on your current phone by Google and stored in some data center somewhere. Probably is so this whole data wiping thing is a waste of time since its already out there without you knowing it. Who really knows what’s goin on with automatic updates and synchronization anyway or who really cares???!!
I always remove the magnets from old hard drives. They come in handy for a lot of things and they are extremely strong magnets.
I do to. But... It takes a hammer, chisel, and a vice to get it apart.
The pictures are all over the Chinese military long before that.
Did this guy get Anthony Weiner's old phone?
I always throw away old cell phones.
You reminded me of that scene in Jerico in which the kids were playing baseball with their cell phones after the EMP killed ‘em.
“Put me in coach...”
http://static.usenix.org/events/lisa04/tech/talks/garfinkel.pdf
I filed down I think it was a 2mm hex wrench to fit the screws exactly. There’s always a couple of screws under the stickers you need to remove too. Makes it real easy.
Just for fun, I sometimes hook up an RC brushless motor controller to the hard drive motor to see how much the motor and platters can take. None have made it past 8 LiPo cells (about 34 volts). I think a few made it past 100k RPMs.
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