One Third of Adults Can't Delete Device Data 50
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) warns that while most adults recognize the importance of wiping personal data from old devices, nearly 30% don't know how, and a significant number of young people either don't care or find it too cumbersome. The Register reports: Clearing personal data off an old device is an important step before ditching it or handing it on to another user. However, almost three in ten (29 percent) of adults don't know how to remove the information, according to a survey of 2,170 members of the UK public. Seventy-one percent agreed that wiping a device was important, but almost a quarter (24 percent) reckoned it was too arduous. This means that the drawer of dusty devices is set to swell -- three-quarters of respondents reported hanging on to at least one old device, and a fifth did so because they were worried about their personal information. [...]
More than one in five (21 percent) of young people in the survey didn't think it was important to wipe personal data, while 23 percent said they didn't care about what might happen to that data. Fourteen percent of people aged 18-34 said they wouldn't bother wiping their devices at all, compared to just 4 percent of people over 55. On the plus side, the majority (84 percent) of respondents said they would ensure data was erased before disposing of a device. Alternatively, some might not worry about it and stick it in that special drawer alongside all the cables that might be needed one day. The survey also found that more than a quarter (27 percent) of UK adults were planning to treat themselves to a new device over the festive season [...].
More than one in five (21 percent) of young people in the survey didn't think it was important to wipe personal data, while 23 percent said they didn't care about what might happen to that data. Fourteen percent of people aged 18-34 said they wouldn't bother wiping their devices at all, compared to just 4 percent of people over 55. On the plus side, the majority (84 percent) of respondents said they would ensure data was erased before disposing of a device. Alternatively, some might not worry about it and stick it in that special drawer alongside all the cables that might be needed one day. The survey also found that more than a quarter (27 percent) of UK adults were planning to treat themselves to a new device over the festive season [...].
Well (Score:2)
We really have to understand that despite the current dogma, there are many levels of ability in humans. Many levels of drive.
Wiping a hard drive or phone is pretty simple. The unfortunate aspect of this is that people who can't wipe their devices, or just find it too much effort, are the ones who need to do that the most.
Re: (Score:1)
Good advice, but avoid the battery and, just to be safe, have a fire extinguisher rated for Li-ion batteries handy. If you can, aim for the data-storage chip(s) or the TPM-or-equivalent chip.
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Good advice,
It's really not, for reasons you've already explained.
If you can, aim for the data-storage chip(s) or the TPM-or-equivalent chip.
I don't think the guy who thinks that pounding a nail through his phone is a good way to protect sensitive data is going to have the necessary knowledge and skill to do what you suggest.
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I'll be honest - I have no idea of the proper way to wipe a drive these days. From what I understand from my counterparts they physically destroy old drives. So ever since data security became "a thing" to me (oh so long ago...) I've disposed of drives by taking them apart for the magnets then using the platters as convenient targets. CD/DVD media get same target treatment.
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I also have a fine collection of hard drive magnets.
The platters make good bird scare spinners. I hang them up by a cord through the spindle hole from a wire strung over the berry patch. The flashing and spinning in the breeze scares the birds away from my strawberries.
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I also have a fine collection of hard drive magnets.
The platters make good bird scare spinners. I hang them up by a cord through the spindle hole from a wire strung over the berry patch. The flashing and spinning in the breeze scares the birds away from my strawberries.
Oh yeah - I have some from older drives that are pretty powerful magnets.
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I'll be honest - I have no idea of the proper way to wipe a drive these days. From what I understand from my counterparts they physically destroy old drives. So ever since data security became "a thing" to me (oh so long ago...) I've disposed of drives by taking them apart for the magnets then using the platters as convenient targets. CD/DVD media get same target treatment.
Destroying a drive certainly works. Depending on if it was going to be used again, like a phone trade-in or selling one of my own ones, I'll do a couple wipes.
But I've done hammers, drill presses, smashing platters, even a second amendment drive wiping a few times.
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It has become hard to do non-destructively and impossible for SSDs. Sure, you should do an overwrite, but after that, physical destruction is the way to go.
One exception: If all data is encrypted on OS or application level. Done right, you can then wipe the passphrase or key-file used and that is it. For convenience, you can still do a zero-overwrite.
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Honestly I'd have to think about wiping a computer. Most have a factory restore option, but does it properly wipe user data? If not, you can install your own copy of windows, but what about Chrome OS?
At least on decent Android devices it's easy.
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There are bootable disks like Dirk's designed to just destroy data, but a lot of people want to resell the device.
Re:Well (Score:4)
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Sure, but for many people that means it's broken and they don't know how to fix it.
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That's not too hard to recover data from, scan for old partitions, then scan for the file system, there's automatic tools to do this. If you can do a long format, then it will work well, but it takes quite a while on a large drive as it means writing to every sector rather then just overwriting a few sectors.
Most SSD''s have a secure wipe option built in which makes things simple.
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Honestly I'd have to think about wiping a computer. Most have a factory restore option, but does it properly wipe user data? If not, you can install your own copy of windows, but what about Chrome OS?
At least on decent Android devices it's easy.
Chrome? It probably only wipes your device after sending it's contents to Google.
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this is a survey counting people who *admit* they don't know how. Actual numbers could vary drastically.
And no doubt.
Self reporting tends to be of a more positive nature for the subject at hand, so I'd wager half or more are clueless.
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Wiping a hard drive or phone is pretty simple.
Actually, no. Sure, the steps are simple when you perform them from a checklist. But knowing what to do, what is effective and what is not and even understanding what a wipe does is not at all simple.
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Wiping a hard drive or phone is pretty simple.
Actually, no. Sure, the steps are simple when you perform them from a checklist. But knowing what to do, what is effective and what is not and even understanding what a wipe does is not at all simple.
It depends on the person. It depends on the paranoia level of the person. I always thought Guttman was being a little sarcastic with his 35 erase and overwrites - I mean, why not 1000? But if one wishes, they can go there.
If a person wants to fire up the google machine and do a search, there is all manner of Youtube videos explaining what to do. There are other things on teh intertoobz besides FaceBook, Instagram, TikTok, and pR0n.
But you read at least the summary too. 29 percent don't know how. 24 p
What did you expect? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Oh? Which of those accusations are false? They're all well-established. Do you have any evidence to the contrary?
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And the other half believe all those memorized accusations you just said. Stupid indeed.
Oh look, it's one of the braindead imbeciles that voted for fascist pigs!
Enjoy being bankrupt by this time next year, fool, and remember: we voted for Harris/Walz.
5-dollar hammer (Score:1)
If the device has no market value beyond the secrets it contains, wrapping it in cloth (to protect you, not the device) then smashing it with a 5-dollar hammer will not only destroy the data but it might make you feel better too.
Pro-tip: For this application, a $5 hammer is usually better than a $5 wrench [xkcd.com].
PS: Battery Re:5-dollar hammer (Score:2)
PS: Remove the battery first. Lithium-ion batteries REALLY don't like being smashed.
Even if you know how to do it.... (Score:3)
It doesn't always thoroughly clean the device. The standard practice at Hewlett-Packard was to remove the hard drive and mechanically crush it before donating (the remaining parts of) their old PCs to charitable organizations.
Yes and no Re:Even if you know how to do it.... (Score:2)
(For traditional 21st-century hard drives) if done correctly using user-accessible tools (i.e. just software), there is still some risk of data being left on sectors that were marked as "bad" and mapped out.
Depending on the model, there MAY be data left on some of the control circuitry.
But for all practical purposes, unless you are dealing with high-value secrets a standard 100%-overwrite is good enough. A "secure erase" will do this (and probably more) on an HDD-equipped standard PC.
For solid-state drives
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You cannot really trust secure erase. If anything critical was on the drive, do physical destruction.
One third of adults can't figure out a hammer (Score:2)
Take the device outdoors and whack it with a hammer. Works with HDDs and cellphones. Yes, the battery could get hot.
Wear safety glasses.
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Unless you want to sell it
Huh (Score:2)
For an Android device, Settings -> {search 'factory reset'}. Seems pretty dang easy.
I mean I guess you don't want to make it too easy ...
If you are just junking it... (Score:2)
If it is going to be trashed then wiping it as a easy as grabbing a sledge hammer.
Encrypted hard drive safe? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
BitLocker only if you do not have a recovery key somewhere in there. You need to be able to securely erase it, e.g. because it was on paper or on a different device. For LUKS, if you had a secure passphrase, just forget that passphrase. If you did not, you need to have had a detached header (header on another device and you can secure erase it there). For EncFS, better destroy the device as it leaks too much via metadata anyways.
Of course, that is the brief version. If anything critical was on the device, a
The UK's ... (Score:2, Funny)
Now I understand. They don't have pistol ranges over there.
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Actually, we do.
Difference is, they only let responsible people use them.
because the fucking devices break. (Score:1)
I have a collection of old phones I canâ(TM)t wipe because they donâ(TM)t work. But they still have all of my data intact. At this point I think Iâ(TM)m going to run over them with a car before taking them to a recycling center.
Other two thirds (Score:1)
Other two thirds giving away their storage devices do not know that deleting information at file system level does not remove it.
Device is properly erased data will have its life expectancy severely reduced.
Re: Other two thirds (Score:2)
ah, the joy of flash memory.
Foolproof! (Score:1)
Throw it in a landfill. It will never be seen again, no one will let anyone try to retrieve it, even if it has a billion dollars of bitcoin on it.
Take device, throw it into ... (Score:2)
... the shredder & trash compactor.
Data deleted.
Doesn't sound that hard, does it?
I guess most people don't think about that.
Re: (Score:2)
Problem is modern batteries that are likely to catch fire or worse.
In other news (Score:3)
To tinfoil lovers : what about using a bulk tape eraser?
To gen y and millenials: "tape" is a paper thin plastic
bricked? (Score:2)
Not so easy when the device is bricked, especially due to hardware failure.