Anti-virus vendor Avast has conducted an experiment where it bought second-hand mobile phones and found a virtual goldmine of information.
According to Venture Beat, this included 40,000 photos, 750 emails and texts, 250 names and addresses, one completed loan application, and more. It found only one of the phones had security software loaded on it, but that phone gave up some of the most sensitive information.
The researchers were also able to identify the previous owner, access his Facebook page, plot his previous whereabouts through GPS coordinates and find the names and numbers of more than a dozen of his closest contacts. What’s more, the company discovered a lot about the previous owner’s interests, and a completed copy of a Sexual Harassment course.
