A report has surfaced about a refurbished iPhone that was found to contain some personal data from the previous user. Using a forensic software program, a detective from the Oregon State Police found that an out-of-the-box refurb iPhone contained much sensitive data. The article doesn’t specify exactly what, but it’s likely that it contained e-mails and, perhaps, user names used with Safari.
The problem here is that the restore process used to wipe the iPhone doesn’t really delete the actual data it contains, but only erases the disk catalog. Files and data can still remain on the iPhone, and with the right software this is accessible. While most people don’t have software that can do this, some, as this article shows, have access to such tools.
Whenever you return a device that you have used, there remain traces of your activity, some of which may lead to identity theft if exploited. One problem with the iPhone is that there is no way to securely delete its contents. We wrote about this last year, explaining how to securely erase a Mac before sending it out for repairs, or selling it or giving it away. For an iPhone, one suggestion is to fill the iPhone with music – leaving as little free space as possible – to overwrite as much of its storage as you can. Until there is a real disk management tool for the iPhone, there is no other choice: there is no equivalent to Disk Utility for the device, though we may see one when the iPhone starts accepting applications.
