![]() ![]() Wiped Android phones aren't being wiped all the way In theory, the factory reset is supposed to wipe all that data, but thanks to the quirks of flash memory, it wasn't being wiped all the way. ![]() Using a variety of database recovery tools, two Cambridge researchers were able to scan the wiped phones for portions of the hard drive that had been designated as logically empty, recovering photos, passwords, and chat logs. As a result, a factory reset will often designate data as logically deleted (that is, available to be overwritten) without actually overwriting it, so as to prolong the life of the hard drive. The core of the problem is flash memory, which limits how often a given block of memory can be overwritten. The standard answer is a factory reset, which wipes the memory and restores the phone's setting, but there's a growing body of evidence that, for Android phones at least, the factory reset isn't enough.Ī study published last week revealed methods that can dig up incredibly sensitive data from supposedly wiped phones, including the login token used to sign into Google accounts. How do you sell a phone without giving away the data on it? If you've used a phone even briefly, it's filled with all kinds of sensitive data, including passwords and login tokens alongside personal texts and photos, all of which need to be erased before you can safely put the phone up for sale.
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