When you’re about to retire dozens or hundreds of your employees’ mobile devices, you don’t want the company data stored on them to end up in the hands of your competitors or criminals.
Here are four commonly misused steps that will NOT wipe the data off those devices:
- Reset the phone to factory settings
• This doesn’t actually erase any data, it simply removes your ability to see and access it, like reformatting a hard drive which clears the File Allocation Table (FAT) on a desktop or laptop computer
• The data can be retrieved by recovery software
• Data on SD cards and SIM is not affected
• Numerous studies have shown the ineffectualness of this method - Pull the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM card)
• Stores subscriber information to enable communication between the phone and its carrier
• Only contains up to 128 KB of memory to store things like contacts, phone numbers, text messages, data usage and billing information - Pull the Secure Digital micro (SD) card expansion memory
• Only eliminates the data stored on that removable media
• Leaves all the data stored on the device’s internal flash memory storage that ranges from 8 GB to 256 GB - Select the lowest cost IT Asset Disposition vendor for resale or recycling
• This provider may incorrectly assume that one or more of the above methods is adequate before selling your phone and all its data on the secondary market
• A vendor without the proper data security/destruction certifications and oversight can be doing anything with your company’s valuable data
How to Successfully Erase Your Company’s Data off Mobile Devices
To keep your company’s data secure, choose a certified data destruction ITAD vendor who is competent, is operating in your best interest, has oversight from a certifying body, and understands all the relevant compliance requirements for your industry .
Remember, using a slightly cheaper R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler over a certified data destruction ITAD vendor can put you at risk an expensive data breach, costing your company an average of almost $4 million globally, and almost $8 million in the US.
A company like NextUse that has multiple digital data destruction certifications from the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) will keep you, your data, and your brand protected by ensuring that all IT assets get the same robust level of data security and destruction before resale or recycling, including mobile devices.
If you’re interested in seeing how NextUse can protect your mobile devices as you retire them, complete this short form or call us at 603-834-9443.
