[ad]
The number of Crackberry Blackberry users is increasing exponentially – especially since they released the much sexier Bold and the latest touch-screen Storm.
The latest revelation is that used BlackBerries are being traded, not by the value of the phone but by the value of the data contained on the phone!
It just shows most companies still don’t have responsible disposal policies when it comes to releasing old equipment and making sure it’s wiped of data or destroyed.
A TV investigation has revealed that secondhand BlackBerries on Nigerian markets are priced according to the data held on them, not the age or the model of a phone.
Jon Godfrey, director of Sims LifeCycle Services, who is advising on a TV investigation into the trade due to screen later this year, said that BlackBerries sell for between $25 to $65 on Lagos markets. Details of the trade come from an agent in Nigeria unaffiliated to Sims’ technology recycling business.
Godfrey explained that the smart phones offered for sale come from the US, continental Europe and the UK. “It’s unclear as yet whether the phones are either sold, thrown away, lost or stolen,” Godfrey explained.
Other type of smartphone are also of potential interest to data thieves, but it is the trade in BlackBerries that seems to be the most active. Data retrieved from smartphones is itraded by crooks in Nigeria.
I’d imagine the phones are older models sold off by lot from companies upgrading to the newer versions of the BlackBerry.
The BlackBerry is a wise choice for data thieves as it’s more likely to be used for business purposes and contain important e-mail information.
Other smart phones would be used more for media and leisure purposes.
BlackBerries include technology to remotely wipe devices and come with built-in encryption. But this encryption is often left switched off because it is considered an inconvenience.
“Business critical data is left on unprotected devices,” Godfrey explained. “Anyone who gets these devices will obtain a snapshot of someone’s life.”
“People need to take residual data issues more seriously and have a policy on how to use and dispose of devices,” he added.
According to a survey by endpoint security firm Credant Technologies, four in five mobile phone users store information on their phones that might easily be used to steal their identities. A survey of 600 commuters at London railway stations revealed that 16 per cent kept their bank account details saved on their mobiles, while 24 per cent also saved their PIN numbers and passwords in the same insecure manner. One in 10 (11 per cent) keep social security and inland revenue details on their phone. Two in five fail to take even basic security precautions, such as password protecting their devices.
It’s scary the amount of people that keep really important stuff in their phones like their bank PIN numbers, banking passwords, passport numbers, social security info and much more.
And only 3 out of 5 take some basic security precautions like passwording their device, that means the number who actually encrypt their data and secure it properly would be less than 5%.
Source: The Register
Alexander Sverdlov says
I wonder if that warning will ever reach corporate America (or WW?)
Whatever the purpose fo BBs, or HDDs sold to malicious hands, most corporations will never learn. Good thing is at least some (the one I’m working in as example) prohibit sale of non-wiped devices (wiped as in wiped, not just formatted).
ethicalhack3r says
You would think that the people in charge of upgrading the hardware would be trained IT profecionals (network engineers) and the people advising them would be security profecionals. They must be well aware of the dangers of not wiping storage devices, so then they must be doing it either out of lack of time or plain lazzynes.