"Trust Digital of McLean, Virginia, bought 10 different phones on eBay this summer to test phone-security tools it sells for businesses," reports AP. They were able to retrieve all kinds of information, both business and personal. AP says the findings included:
One company's plans to win a multimillion-dollar federal transportation contract. E-mails about another firm's $50,000 payment for a software license. Bank accounts and passwords. Details of prescriptions and receipts for one worker's utility payments.
Turns out that many phones don't properly delete the contents of Flash memory:
Flash memory is inexpensive and durable. But it is slow to erase information in ways that make it impossible to recover. So manufacturers compensate with methods that erase data less completely but don't make a phone seem sluggish.
However, it may not be much of a security threat at the moment:
Trust Digital found no evidence thieves or corporate spies are routinely buying used phones to mine them for secrets, [CEO Nick] Magliato said. "I don't think the bad guys have figured this out yet."
