August 30, 2006

When You Throw Away Your Cell Phone are You GIVING Away Precious Data?

I've been through several cell phones and each time I go through the usual routine of key strokes to delete the information on the phone. Like a computer, however, the data you have on their is STILL there for someone with the right software to look at.

CNN writes Flash memory is inexpensive and durable. But it is slow to erase information in ways that make it impossible to recover. So manufacturers compensate with methods that erase data less completely but don't make a phone seem sluggish.

Phone manufacturers usually provide instructions for safely deleting a customer's information, but it's not always convenient or easy to find. Research in Motion Ltd. has built into newer Blackberry phones an easy-to-use wipe program.

Palm Inc., which makes the popular Treo phones, puts directions deep within its Web site for what it calls a "zero out reset." It involves holding down three buttons simultaneously while pressing a fourth tiny button on the back of the phone.

You have enough headache running and growing your small business. When you trash your phone MAKE SURE your data is really, really gone.

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