Don't keep
secrets on
cell phone Don't tell your cell phone any secrets. It might not keep them. Second-hand
phones purchased over the Internet surrendered credit card numbers and bank account passwords, business secrets and even evidence of adultery. One married man's girlfriend sent a text message to his cell phone: His wife was getting suspicious. Later, the married man bought a new phone. He sold his
old one on eBay, at Internet auction, for $290. The married man had followed the directions in his phone's manual to erase all his
information, including lurid exchanges with his lover. But it wasn't enough. A company, Trust Digital of McLean, Va bought 10 different phones on eBay this summer to test phone-security tools it sells for businesses. The phones all were fairly sophisticated models capable of working with corporate e-mail systems. Curious software experts at Trust Digital resurrected information on nearly all the used phones, including the racy exchanges between guarded lovers. The recovered information was equal to 27000 pages-a stack of printouts 8 feet high. "We found just a mountain of personal and corporate data," said Nick Magliato, Trust Digital's Many of the phones were owned personally by the sellers but crammed with sensitive corporate information, underscoring the blurring of work and hone. "They don't come with a warning label that says, ‘Be careful.' The data on these phones is very important.' Magliato said. One phone surrendered the secrets of a chief
executive at a small technology company in Silicon Valley. It included details of a pending deal with Adobe Systems Inc,and e –mail proposals from a potential Japanese partner. "If we want to be exclusive distributor in Japan, what kind of business terms you want?" asked the executive in Japan. Trust Digital surmised that the U.S. chief executive gave his old
phone to a former roommate, who used it briefly then sold it for $400 on eBay.Researchers found e-mails covering different periods for both men. Who used the same address until recently. Experts said giving away an old phone is commonplace.Consumers upgrade their cell phones on average about every 18 months "Most people toss their phones after they're done; a lot of them give their old phones to family members or friends," said Miro Kazakoff, a researcher at Compete Inc. of Boston who follows mobile phone-which sometimes can fetch hundreds of dollars-is increasingly popular.
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