Hello OzBargainers, need your help, especially from the techies out there to address my concerns.
I feel buying and selling 2nd hand computers and mobile phones pose data security risks. If I buy, the seller might have installed an app or software to steal my data. If I sell, the buyer might be able to extract data from my factory set devices.
Are my concerns reasonable? What would be the solution(s)?
Thanks in advance!
Do you buy or sell old computers and mobile phones?
No. Try a clean install of the OS for Windows computers.
Who needs to buy old ones when you have Ozbargain deals.
The storage in modern mobile phones is usually encrypted using a cryptographic key the moment you set it up for use.
For IOS, the encryption is on by default, so when you Erase it the encryption key is removed and whatever is in the storage is basically unreadable for anyone without the original key. For Android, File Based Encryption is also on by default, but earlier Android devices may have it off. We're talking old androids from like a decade ago though running Android 6 or earlier. See Samsung article on FBE
For help read What to do before you sell, give away or trade in your iPhone or iPad
https://support.apple.com/en-au/109511
For android there's a pretty good ELI5 explanation on how it works https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/1cab27k/is_factory…
For PC's if you are selling a machine you could secure wipe the drive using nwipe or just take the drive out and keep it for yourself. Secure wipes can take ages to complete though, especially for slower and larger HDDs.
Got a laptop from a second hand shop once that had a few police interview recordings on it and a phone off hard rubbish that had some home made porn on it.
If the former was related to the latter then I’m glad my old tech went to a good home!
ShredOS will clear off your PC data.
Do you think your data is of value to someone? I think your tinfoil hat is blocking your vision
Do you think your data is of value to someone?
It's worth around US$26 to US$3000.
The fact that there are so many meagre freebies and meagre cashback 'deals' advertised here and which require Ozbargainers to give away their personal details demonstrates it has some notional value to certain organisations.
Paranoid about Buying and Selling
Then don't.
Just don't buy anything from a Mossad agent.
more for me
Wipe your devices before selling.
Wipe any devices you buy before using.
You can use something like Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) to do this.
If you are worried about buying and selling, then worry more about ownership. Spyware, malware, viruses, trojan, scams, spams, malicious files and more which is more riskier. You have been warned.
That said, buy new and when you finish with the item, smash it into a million pieces and go to the nearest garbage dump and scatter the pieces like you would so with someone's cremated ashes.
Don't buy or sell old computers and mobile phones