This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube video titled "Reselling Your Smartphone? It Might Still Have Your Data! @McAfeeConsumer" (published 2012-04-25). The excerpt is a TV-style morning show segment on Good Day with two hosts interviewing Dana Fowlis of the i-Team about privacy and security risks when reselling smartphones. They discuss findings from security expert Robert Siciliano (McAfee), who tested used phones and found leftover personal data—Android devices were noted as more likely to retain sensitive information than iPhones or BlackBerries—and the hosts offer practical advice (wipe carefully, give to someone trusted, or physically destroy devices).
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Ready to sell your smartphone? I don't know, maybe upgrade to something nicer?
I've been thinking about it. Well, be careful about which phone you sell. The i-Team's Dana Fowlis is here this morning to tell us that not all smartphones are made alike. But before you get to that, we got to say welcome because we're so thrilled you're going to be joining us.
Thank you.
Here on Good Day.
I'm excited too. We kind of divided up the i-Team, so we're spread out through the day a little bit. Right. And I said I want this, I want to come in first.
Getting up early. Welcome to our world. I know.
I like it.
So you'll be joining us on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday mornings, correct?
That's right.
Good.
And then shooting on Tuesdays Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I, you know, and I'm always on Facebook, so— Oh, good, good.
That'll be great.
You know, just talk to me there.
Look, you're making me kind of nervous because I've been thinking about upgrading from my Droid.
Yeah, well, you should be a little bit nervous. And let me tell you why. Because here's the BlackBerry, Grevir has the Android, I have an iPhone. One of these, according to a security expert, is just not like the others. One of these, he says, no matter how you clean it, it has a big chance of going to its new owner with some of your private information still on it. Which one? Well, it's the Android. I've been talking online with Robert Siciliano, who advises McAfee. You know that name, it's the antivirus software. Well, here's what he did. He bought a bunch of used smartphones and he tested them. He says even though the owners of the Androids wiped their phone and their hard drive clean, here is some of the stuff left behind: Social Security numbers, credit card logons. It can also leave behind your internet search history. He even found a text tax return on one of them. Now, if you have a BlackBerry or an iPhone, he says the manufacturer's procedure for cleaning your phone worked much better. Now, our online expert says true, but if you're good enough, you can hack into those too. Android's a little easier, but honestly, iPhones can be breached as well. Would you ever resell your phone? I would not. You just wouldn't resell? No, I would not. OK, I don't know about you, but I honestly don't know that many people whose smartphone is worth selling by the time you want to get rid of it. But if it's still good, give it to someone you trust, like your kids, your husband. But if you're completely done with it, both security guys say destroy it, smash it, drill a hole in it. Oh my God. And they're not kidding. So in just a few minutes, I'm going to head down to my desk, then I want them to go to my Facebook page, and I'm going to go ahead and put a link on there about everything the security guy has to say about this smartphone test. You have two boys. They would love to smash or drill a hole.
It's like a great activity, good father-son bonding moment.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh my gosh. And you know what? I was gonna switch from this to the iPhone. I'm gonna give mine to Buck because I trust you, and I'm gonna let you drill a hole in it.
You know, I like— I have two. I have the Android and the iPhone. One's work, one's, you know, my own. The Android has such a good navigation system. That's really neat. We talked about it. I don't want to give that up either. Right. But, so hopefully when it's done we can have a smash party.
A lot of time people donate their phones to charity for different causes too. So this is something I guess you should be concerned about.
Yeah, you know, I'd really do my research and, you know, not everybody keeps really personal stuff on their phone. But, you know, I check in with my bank and do all sorts of things on my phone. Sure, me too. I mean, this is my, you know, computer. It's a little computer. Computer. But it's not that for everybody, so consider what you do with it.
