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Avast recovers data from "wiped" Android phones bought on Ebay.

AMICLG

 

Security software firm Avast bought the phones as a test to see what they could find on theoretically “wiped” phones. What they found was a virtual goldmine of information: 40,000 photos — including nudie pics — 750 emails and texts, 250 names and addresses, one completed loan application, and a whole lot more. Only one of the phones had security software loaded on it, but that phone gave up some of the most sensitive information.

 

Note: It also only works on pre Trim devices ie: before Android 4.3

 

Not surprising as it's pretty hard to completely format the Nand in phones, let alone zero it.

 

 

Hackers at Avast were able to identify the previous owner, access his Facebook page, plot his previous whereabouts through GPS coordinates, and find the names and numbers of more than a dozen of his closest contacts. What’s more, the company discovered a lot about this guy’s penchant for kink and a completed copy of a Sexual Harassment course — hopefully a preventative measure.

 

“This guy was really into anime porn,” says Caroline James, PR manager for Avast

 

This is identity thieves and blackmailers wet dream.

 

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Mein Führer... I CAN WALK !!

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Gad damn, well guess I cant sell my phone no more

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I read this earlier today. Hilarious.

Something like 40,000 pictures spread over 20 devices, and they could trace multiple users back on the same device.

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This is some Die hard 4.0 stuff

Details separate people.

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Gad damn, well guess I cant sell my phone no more

If you encrypt your phone before you wipe it it's supposed to prevent access.

CPU: Ryzen 9 5900 Cooler: EVGA CLC280 Motherboard: Gigabyte B550i Pro AX RAM: Kingston Hyper X 32GB 3200mhz

Storage: WD 750 SE 500GB, WD 730 SE 1TB GPU: EVGA RTX 3070 Ti PSU: Corsair SF750 Case: Streacom DA2

Monitor: LG 27GL83B Mouse: Razer Basilisk V2 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red Speakers: Mackie CR5BT

 

MiniPC - Sold for $100 Profit

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CPU: Intel i3 4160 Cooler: Integrated Motherboard: Integrated

RAM: G.Skill RipJaws 16GB DDR3 Storage: Transcend MSA370 128GB GPU: Intel 4400 Graphics

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PSU: Corsair CX650M Case: EVGA DG73

Monitor: LG 29WK500 Mouse: G.Skill MX780 Keyboard: G.Skill KM780 Cherry MX Red

 

OG Gaming Rig - Gone

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CPU: Intel i5 4690k Cooler: Corsair H100i V2 Motherboard: MSI Z97i AC ITX

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Gad damn, well guess I cant sell my phone no more

ide get arrested if they found what i had :ph34r:

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>write over partition with 0's

> get tons of pictures of potatos on your phone

> wipe it

> be happy.

I am a happy wuffy

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I could burn the phone.... and basically the traces of it will be gone.....

Wanna hang out with me and people like @Theslsamg, @ Ssoele, @BENTHEREN, @Lanoi, @Whiskers, @_ASSASSIN_, @Looney, @WunderWuffle, and @nsyedhasan. Well.... Check out: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/48484-unofficial-linustechtips-teamschnitzel-server-teamspeak/

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If you encrypt your phone before you wipe it it's supposed to prevent access.

meh cant risk it, it has nudies of obama

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This is some Die hard 4.0 stuff

It's on 4.4+ too as you can't erase the OS unless you plug it into your computer and do though Odin then reflash it but most consumers are too dumb or lazy to do so.

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ide get arrested if they found what i had :ph34r:

4TB of horse pictures would strike up a few red flags for me as well.

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4TB of horse pictures would strike up a few red flags for me as well.

lordy, and i thought my 16gb was impressive :D

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Bring it on Aiden Pearce I ain't afraid of you.  What are you gonna do, stutter me to death?

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Anyone know a way to completely wipe a phone?

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Anyone know a way to completely wipe a phone?

Open the back, rip out all the flash chips, and toss them in the trash.

 

Wait, you mean before selling it? It's impossible to completely wipe.

"You have got to be the biggest asshole on this forum..."

-GingerbreadPK

sudo rm -rf /

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The reason I will never well anything with a storage device I have used. :)

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Anyone know a way to completely wipe a phone?

http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-optimus-s-rooting-roms-hacks/161451-tool-wiper-all-devices-wipes-boot-one-click-wiper-cwm.html

Just an example. If you have an android phone you can also do it via adb using the "shell wipe data" command: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1032694

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Or you could just overwrite the free space with potatoes like someone said above. 

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Or you cold just overwrite the free space with potatoes like someone said above. 

Running those two tools write 0s to the nand flash on the phones. If we consider each 0 = 1 potato. On an 8Gb phone, that is equal to about 68719476736 Potatoes. I say about because this does not include overhead by the filesystem. 

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I guess ill just download potatoes like mentioned before.

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I guess ill just download potatoes like mentioned before.

I hope you realize that overwriting a file with potatoes does still sometimes keep the original file content:

http://macosxfilerecovery.com/data-recovery-possible-on-securely-erased-ssds/

At least on NAND based media storage.

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Hahah ,this reminds me of a story I read on a forum .

This guy is very caring of his gf, and provides a lot for her. Whenever he gets a new phone, he gives her the new phone and he uses her now old phone. Once when he was rooting it ,it bricked or something .so he flashed the ROM and began data recovery. It recovered much more than his own data and found out his gf was cheating on him. He ended the 11 year relationship :(

It's not safe to sell or give our old phones,computers etc away.

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Good thing I made a backup when my device was brand new :D or would that not work either? Anyways I don't intend to sell my S4 so this isn't important to me.

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I hope you realize that overwriting a file with potatoes does still sometimes keep the original file content:

http://macosxfilerecovery.com/data-recovery-possible-on-securely-erased-ssds/

At least on NAND based media storage.

What if you'd do it multiple times, let's just say 20 times as just an example. Would then most files be corrupt enough to be unrecoverable or would most files still be recoverable without issues?

 

 

It's on 4.4+ too as you can't erase the OS unless you plug it into your computer and do though Odin then reflash it but most consumers are too dumb or lazy to do so.

I'd like to add to that: Yes, consumers are commonly too dumb or lazy, but sometimes there's something else that just plain blocks it, like the USB connection in my phone refusing to create any sort of connection to any PC.

Never trust my advice. Only take any and all advice from me with a grain of salt. Just a heads up.

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