Two-thirds of used memory cards contain data from previous owners

Two-thirds of used memory cards contain data from previous owners

A recent study conducted by researchers from Hertfordshire University in Great Britain revealed that almost two-thirds of memory cards used on the Internet and by extension in online stores still contain remnants of personal data

As part of their study, researchers badyzed 100 SD and micro SD cards SD purchased on eBay at auctions organized by platform vendors from e-shop with used items and other sources for a period of time.

The researchers found that previously used memory cards were on smartphones and tablets, but some cards also use memory cards

The research team pointed out that, to recover files from of memory cards, they used free software available on the Internet, to see if they could be

Their efforts were successful and alarming at the same time, as the team said that they were able to recover data from memory cards, including personal photos, copies of phones, and names of contact lists, browsing data from internet users, and other personal documents.

People do not properly delete files from memory cards

"The most serious problem It's not that people do not delete the contents of their SD cards, it's that" 39 they do not do it properly, "said Paul Bischoff, of Comparitech.com, the company that was commissioned to study it

" The mere abolition of a file from within the world ". a device only removes the reference that indicates where computer could find that file in the memory of the card.But in fact, it does not delete the data from the file, "said Bischoff.

"Unfortunately, under normal circumstances, the data remains on the map until it is destroyed.For this reason, it is not enough to highlight the files of one." memory card, then press the Delete key Old cards need to be reformatted to eliminate the risk of third-party file recovery

There is special software, including open source, that can help users to clear and properly clean the memory cards that have been placed on the devices and then replace them with random data so that the previous information is permanently and irrevocably removed from a card that the user wants to sell

This process does not recommend i only memory cards, but for all media storage devices such as regular hard drives or a USB stick.