New Study Demonstrates Risk of Data and Identity Theft Still Misunderstood and ...
23.05.12
Laplink® found that as many as 85% of previously owned storage devices are not securely erased, allowing sensitive information to easily be recovered by the new owner.
Bellevue, WA (PRWEB) February 22, 2012
Laplink Software, Inc. today released a report that raised significant concerns in privacy security for users of PCs, smartphones, tablets, cameras and other devices.
The study , co-authored and conducted by Laplink and O&O Software GmbH, analyzed a sample of 160 randomly purchased hard drives and memory storage previously used in PCs, cameras and smartphones. By simply un-erasing data with commercially available tools, and without any special hardware, close to 53,000 digital pictures and 4,500 documents were recovered from the memory storage devices. Of the 160 devices, 85% were not securely erased and data could easily be recovered while 15% were either physically defective or securely erased. Although many of the files recovered seemed harmless, some included very sensitive information such as private pictures, sensitive documents, legal certificates and other personal information.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (press release)