Identity Management Day. #beidentitysmart! Safeguard Data on Your Old Electronics.
Study Found 40% of Used Devices Contain Personally Identifiable Information
While auction, resale, and recycling sites have created a convenient way to reuse or extend the life an electronic- devices, there is also valuable data that the people are unintentionally leaving behind.
NAID, the National Association for Information Destruction, conducted the largest second-hand device study revealing that 40% of devices resold in regular commerce channels contained personally identifiable information. And this was without taking any heroic efforts to acquire the data, just commercially available software tools you can get off the internet. The study included hard drives, smartphones and tablets.
The personally identifiable information recovered included
- credit card information,
- contact information,
- usernames and passwords,
- company and personal data,
- tax details, and more.
While mobile phones had less recoverable personal information at 13%, tablets were disturbingly found with the highest amount at 50%, and hard drives came in a close second with 44%.
The secure handling of the data on your end-of-life electronics is just as critical as your online data. It requires the same level of discipline and safeguarding. You want to ensure your electronics recycler is complying with the highest level of data destruction, NIST 800-88, and that they provide you a certificate of data destruction.
