The dangers of selling the mobile

The dangers of selling the mobile

The smartphones continuously store data of the private life that put in risk the security of its owner

   The appearance of Ebay and, especially, the arrival of applications such as Wallapop have triggered the transactions of second-hand goods between individuals. Numerous sales that reveal private data at the time of selling products, mainly technological.

According to Panda Security, about half of the mobile phones that are sold second-hand in Spain contain sensitive personal information from the terminal vendor. That is to say, they stay with the activated social networks, with the application of the operative electronic mail and even with the keys of access to enter in the application of the bank.

  Although, the percentage is even greater when it comes to devices that are thrown away or that are changed by new devices, within the known as "renove plans" of the telephone companies, the manufacturers of the terminals or of stores the ones of electronic consumption.

Generally, when a company buys your phone from a renewed plan, the first thing it does is format the device to erase all the information it contains. Moreover, if they are faithful to the Data Protection Law, they have the obligation to tell you that you are the one who gives them the fully formatted terminal, as if they had just left the factory.

But, "if you find an unreliable employee or if you sell your phone to an unreliable company, you run the risk of getting the key to access your mobile and get all your personal information almost effortlessly," Hervé Lambert says. Retail Global Consumer Operations manager of Panda Security.

Experts recommend before changing mobile delete all the information of the old device. That is, format it so that all sensitive data is completely erased. Still, that phone will still contain a lot of information about you. From the places you have frequented most, to many of your telephone numbers and some of your access codes.