Smartphones and electronic goods, do they tell a story about you after they die?

Smartphones and electronic goods, do they tell a story about you after they die?

With technology developing at faster and faster rates we are upgrading our phones more often, replacing our computers with newer models and ousting the TV if the pictures not as good as our neighbours, but what data stays on those devices and can it tell a story about you?

As many people know when you turn off a device the data stays alive on that piece of tech, a phone turned off for 5 years will still have all those pictures and songs from 2008 saved on it, this data will never just go away, you can even delete data using the delete buttons and it’s still recoverable, fire and water don’t pose much risk either, as we have built the storage systems to last, recovering data from fire and water is a common sight, but not in all cases.

The data that is stored on tech devices can range from what your using, Televisions carry a few bits of data like location, favourites history and maybe your email and some passwords if its a smart TV, mobile phones, on the other hand, have had your life streamed thorough it for a long time, your passwords, banking details, emails, pictures, fingerprints, iris scans, location data and many more small amounts of data people can use to learn about you.

In our opinion, the biggest issue with leaving data on devices is identity fraud and how easy we are making it for people to remove the data from our devices and use it against us.

The correct and safe way to remove data from your older devices is to manufacture reset them, ensure you have taken any external storage devices out from the device, this includes SD and Sim cards, USB’s, external hard drives and drives that might not have been formatted as they all potentially store data.

The environmental aspect of recycling old tech is an important one, more and more we are throwing away complicated designed full of different materials and components, to recycle your old phone or TV there are many options, you should be able to search for a local recycle place that will take it for free after you have done the manufacture reset.

How to erase my old tech.

1. Locate and remove any additional storage services such as sim cards and memory cards. 
2. Go through your settings to find the manufacture reset option.
3. Once reset send your old tech to an approved tech recycling service