Cyber criminals gearing up for Christmas data bonanza

Data left on old devices will provide rich pickings if not wiped and disposed of correctly, Kroll Ontrack warns

With millions of people set to receive brand spanking new tablets or smartphones for Christmas, one firm is warning of a potential windfall for cyber criminals because residual data is not being properly wiped.

In a joint study by Kroll Ontrack and Blancco Technology Group recently, results revealed that thousands of leftover emails, call logs, texts/SMS/IMs, photos and videos were retrieved from 35 per cent of secondhand devices examined.

Engineers from the two firms discovered that a deletion attempt had been made on 57 per cent of the devices that contained residual data, but that attempt had been unsuccessful due to common, but unreliable methods used, leaving sensitive information potentially available to cyber criminals. Obviously in a corporate environment, this could leave firms exposed, if employees are not deleting company information and emails correctly.

Paul Le Messurier, programme and operations manager at Kroll Ontract, explained: “Residual data left on two of the second-hand mobile devices were significant enough to discern the original users’ identities. Whether it’s a person’s emails containing their contact information or media files involving a company’s intellectual property, lingering data can have serious consequences.

“Together, all of the study’s findings serve as a powerful warning about the importance of using effective data erasure methods and the need to mitigate security risks that may occur when done improperly or incompletely.”

He added: “Manually deleting data or simply logging out of a mobile device app does not erase data from the device. Deleting data simply hinders the ability for the mobile device to locate the data – the actual data still remains and can be recovered.”