By George! In this artist's impression, Hollywood chick magnet, George Clooney gives the cell phone he has been using since 2007, to the highest bidder at an auction. What Clooney may not know is that the buyer can retrieve all the data on his phone (which he obviously deleted) in a couple of minutes (and that includes steamy pics of ex flame Sarah Larson). Illustration/ Sameer Pawar
By: Aditya Anand Date: 2008-07-18
You have just deleted all the data on your cell phone and exchanged your phone for a new one at your dealer. Now, listen up. That picture you shot of your cute five-year-old boy on your cell phone can be posted on a paedophile website. Then, your numbers, confidential text messages, emails, MMSes, and basically every single data that was on your phone can be retrieved in minutes and abused.
How data is retrieved
Step 1 > The handset is connected to a computer loaded with the retrieving software.
Step 2 > The software retrieves the deleted data (which is converted into a image file after deletion) and then reconverts the data into a batch file.
Step 3 > This retrieved data is once again loaded into the handsetCan't delete data on your cellphone permanently"
You can NEVER permanently delete the data on your cell phone. Frankly, what the customer does with the retrieved data is not our concern," said a mobile phone dealer.
According to Nadeem Aibani, a cell phone expert from Heera Panna market, data from a memory card (after being formatted) can be retrieved within minutes with the help of data retrieving software. It costs just Rs 2,000. "But in case the phone is expensive, like a Vertu or a Porsche, we send it to London for cracking, which could cost up to Rs 1 lakh to retrieve the data," said Aibani.
Shop owners who sell second hand handsets specially at Manish market and Heera Panna, say 80 per cent of the cell phones are sold with the memory chip. "Buyers of second hand mobile always demand a memory chip for their own use. But this chip actually contains the data from the old phone," said the owner of a shop in Manish market on condition of anonymity.
Adds Chetan Bairai of Harmony Audio Bombay Limited in Opera House who sell mobile phones and retrieve lost data, "Buyers of second hand phones prefer high-end phones that have push-mail facility, as they become affordable.
" What can be retrieved
>>Contact numbers
>>Personal information
>>Video recordings
>>Audio recordings
>>SMSes
>>Themes
>>Songs
>>Photographs
>>Emails
>>Personal data
Source; http://www.mid-day.com/news/2008/jul/180708city1.htm
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