Friday 29 December 2017

Cell Phone Forensics On Cleaning Data

By Gary Cook


Mobile phones hold some of the most treasured secrets. Everyone wants to wipe out data from the handset before selling or giving it away. In the age of data recovery, you might be surprised years down the line when your secrets are displayed in public. Cell Phone Forensics experts have given their tricks on clearing data to eliminate worry about unnecessary exposure. Here are some of these tricks.

The factory reset option will provide protection. This is usually the first option for most people. It deletes information that has been entered leaving your handset as clean as new. Using this option might lock out some functions for certain phones making it impossible to use by the new buyer. Depending on the extent of factory protection, you can conceal your information through reset.

Factory reset is not similar to wiping out information. This method works by hiding the information in a way that normal operations of your phone cannot retrieve it. It takes advanced technology to retrieve it. If a person is intent on retrieving this information, it will still be possible leading to compromise.

Modern technology has enabled data encryption to protect your information. Certain phones offer this option as a default setting while you have to activate the function on other phones. Encrypted messages demand a retrieval code to access the information. Without this code or a secret PIN, your information will be safe. You have to ensure that you do not share this key or code with third parties.

While encryption is default for certain handset models, there are apps with encryption options inbuilt. All information transferred through these apps is usually protected. However, hacking has made it uncertain to claim safety through encryption. With widespread hacking even of highly protected platforms, encryption provides protection only to a certain extent.

Overwrite the existing data. This is an option that you use when saving files or data. It amounts to utilizing space that may be considered already used and in the process damage the existing files. Just like resetting to factory option, overwriting conceals the information in such a way that it can only be retrieved with advanced technology. This option will therefore hide information from ordinary persons and not tech wiz intent on retrieving it.

External memory devices like SIM cards and SD cards should be removed. They are storage devices which hold files and information that you may consider confidential. Once you remove them from the phone, all the information that was stored in them disappears and cannot be accessed by the phones again. It can only be accessed once the cards are returned. This option will only work if you had chosen external storage for your data.

Technology advancement regarding information retrieval has complicated concealing. Even leaving a handset clean does not guarantee permanent hiding. The only guarantee most of these methods offer is inability to access by ordinary users. Phones provide directions on deleting information. Follow these directions to be on the safe side. However, the ultimate option when considering information security is to avoid having it on your handset if it posses any danger.




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