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Deleted data from your smartphone? Think Again (Maybe)


shorTcircuiT
Gold VIP
CNN has quite an interesting article regarding the recovery of data from a cell phone that has been wiped, damaged, destroyed, etc etc.  The tool that is the focus of the article is Cellebrite.
 
"There are also dozens of Cellebrite devices available on eBay, many of which are selling for less than $1,000. When new, Cellebrite tools can cost upwards of $10,000. "
 
Full Article
 
While the article is from a mainly law enforcement point of view, with the availability of the devices on EBay, I would consider it pretty much a given that thieves also have access to the tools.
 
So this brings me to the point of this post: Does the Webroot Android  Device Wipe feature remove data from the phone thoroughly enough that an identity thief who obtains possession of your phone will be unable to obtain any useable data from it, even if they have access to tools such as Cellebrite?
 @MODs: This post seemed to be able to fit in a variety of forums here, so I chose this one.  Move it if need be 🙂

6 replies

RetiredTripleHelix
Gold VIP
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Great Article and Great Question David!
 
Daniel
 
 

ProTruckDriver
Moderator
Good Article David. It will be interesting what Webroot comments will be about this. 😉

shorTcircuiT
Gold VIP
  • Author
  • Gold VIP
  • 7721 replies
  • May 23, 2013
Thanks guys 🙂  I do get a good question once in a while among all the dense ones 🙂

JimM
  • Retired Webrooter
  • 1581 replies
  • May 23, 2013
David, it's possible that tools like this could still read some of the wiped data, even after a Webroot wipe. However, we are working on improvements so that all wiped data would be unrecoverable.

shorTcircuiT
Gold VIP
  • Author
  • Gold VIP
  • 7721 replies
  • May 23, 2013
Jim,
 
Thanks for the reply!  Keep us up to date on what you find out.
 
David

  • Bronze VIP
  • 1525 replies
  • May 29, 2013
Thanks for the article David

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