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As you decide whether or not you are going to go ahead and preorder that new LG G3 you are probably also considering selling your current handset to offset the expense, especially if you are purchasing the phone at full price to save your unlimited data plan. However before you pawn off your old device on Craigslist or Ebay you may want to see what Avast discovered when they bought 20 phones, that had been factory reset, on Ebay.
According to Avast their security researchers found that they could still access important information like photos, emails, texts, contacts, and identities of the phone's previous owners. What is even more troubling is the fact that Avast's mobile division president Jude McColgan said the security research team used fairly generic tools that are publicly available. Avast said that while devices appeared to be thoroughly erased at first glance, they were still able to quickly extract personal data. There is an encryption feature in Android which can be found under Settings, Security. Next time you prepare a phone to sell you may want to first encrypt it and then wipe the data.
Via TechnoBuffalo
