In a consumer news segment, hosts Scott and Eric Flack interview McAfee identity‑theft researcher Robert Siciliano about the hidden dangers of selling used electronics. Siciliano purchased 30 second‑hand phones, PDAs, computers and tablets from college students and discovered that many devices retained sensitive personal information—social security numbers, passwords, photos, and bank details—even after owners believed they had performed factory resets. Android phones were found to leave data behind due to an operating‑system defect, while Windows XP computers suffered from confusing wipe instructions and hidden partitions that preserved data. Half of the devices also contained viruses capable of stealing information from new owners. By contrast, iPhones, iPads and BlackBerrys appeared to wipe clean. Siciliano advises extreme measures: physically destroy hard drives, repeat factory resets on phones, and discard netbooks that cannot be reliably wiped. The segment warns that the potential value of a device’s resale price is far outweighed by the risk of identity theft for both sellers and buyers.
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Well, you probably have one lying around sitting in the basement or the back of your closet, but before you try to sell an old cell phone or computer for a little extra cash, listen up. You could be handing a stranger your personal information and not even know it. Wave 3 troubleshooter Eric Flack uncovered some startling research that will make anyone selling their old device think twice.
Scott, one of the most surprising parts about all of this, experts actually found compromising personal information on the old computers and cell phones —of computer-savvy college students who thought they had wiped the memory clean.
It's a high-tech age where last year's model is the last thing you want.
We're continually upgrading to different technologies.
Buying the new, selling the old on Craigslist and eBay, handing over unused electronics to the highest bidder. The Wave 3 troubleshooter department discovered you could be giving away much more than you think.
So, criminal hackers are very aware that for very short cash, they can buy a secondhand device and they can steal your identity.
Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert and researcher for McAfee, a company that sells computer security software. He bought 30 used cell phones, PDAs, computers, and tablets from college students in the Boston area. The old owners thought they'd wiped the memory clean. In many cases, they hadn't.
You might find Social Security numbers. You might find usernames and passwords.
Siciliano says one of the worst-performing brands is one of the industry's most well-known names. Droid. Siciliano found Google's Android operating system left hidden pockets of sensitive information on Droid cell phones, even after a factory reset.— which is supposed to delete all the information on a device.
Android actually left the consumer's data on the device even after they did a factory reset. Why would they do that? That's a defect in their operating system.
Google has not responded to our questions about that alleged glitch. Siciliano said it was not the only company that had problems. We found everything.
Just listen to what he pulled Family photos, family videos— off this hard drive— text files. We found families' entire Social Security numbers, their bank account information—
from a computer using Microsoft Windows XP.
You name it, we found it on devices like this.
Siciliano said the problems with Windows XP is twofold: confusing instructions that leave even tech-savvy users unable to wipe the hard drives clean, and partitions, or doors, that often wall off data.— leaving it on the computer even after a factory reset and there for the taking by a hacker with the right software. In a statement, Microsoft told the Wave 3 troubleshooter department, Microsoft has made considerable security and privacy improvements that protect users' data and personal information in its new operating system, Windows 7.
The people selling these devices aren't the only ones at risk. The McAfee researcher found 1 out of every 2 had a virus on it, which means the person buying it —could also be a target of identity theft.
It had viruses on it that could actually steal your information off of that device you just purchased.
The news wasn't all bad. Siciliano couldn't get any vital information off iPhones, iPads, or BlackBerrys—evidence, he says, of factory reset functions that erase all the information on a device, making it less risky to sell on the secondary market.. But it's still a place where Siciliano believes making a few bucks on old electronics just doesn't pay.
Your identity isn't worth the $50 you might get for that device.
Now, if you do plan to sell your old cell phone or computer, here is the best advice we can give you: completely remove the hard drive of a computer and smash it with a hammer. We're actually serious about this. Siciliano says that's the only way to ensure no one will ever retrieve any information from that hard drive. Now when it comes to your cell phones or PDAs, do the factory reset multiple times. Experts say sometimes things left over from the initial wipe can be deleted if you repeat the process. And finally, if you have one of those old netbooks, Siciliano says just throw that away. Netbooks lack a CD-ROM drive and the ability to wipe its memory. So Scott, even if you go through with that netbook— Yeah. And like delete the files one by one, and then you give it to somebody else and sell it, They can actually go, go and get that stuff out of the balance of the computer pretty much no problem.
And retrieve it again.
And retrieve it and, and be off to the races with your information.
That's good information. Just be safe rather than sorry. You give it to a family member, then they might sell it later too, so you can't be careful. Absolutely.
Just make sure whatever you're gonna get for it is really worth the chance you're taking.
