Half of second-hand mobiles still carry sensitive data

A study conducted by CPP has revealed the apparent extent to which second-hand mobile phones carry sensitive information.

Over half of the used phones examined still contained personal data, because they hadn’t been wiped properly after being sold on.

According to a report on the BBC, details such as social networking passwords, bank account and credit card details were retrieved from some handsets.

CPP recommends taking extra precautions when selling a phone, such as destroying the sim card and restoring the phone to factory default settings, along with ensuring that any back-ups are also deleted.

Otherwise, should the buyer of your used phone be a less than scrupulous individual, you could find your Facebook or worse still bank account at some degree of risk.