41% of Used Gadgets Still Contain Previous Owners’ Data

Experts from Kaspersky Lab conducted a study on the practices of buying used gadgets and found that in 41% of cases, secondhand smartphones, tablets, and computers still contained data from their previous owners.

The research revealed that 32% of respondents had purchased a smartphone, tablet, desktop computer, or laptop through classified ad websites. Of those buyers, 22% bought these devices for personal use, while 12% purchased them for relatives (such as a child) or friends.

Specialists continue to emphasize the importance of deleting all personal data from a device before selling it. Otherwise, the security of that information depends entirely on the integrity of the new owner.

Kaspersky analysts discovered that 41% of users who bought secondhand devices found information belonging to the previous owner. This included notes and even photos. In 15% of cases, buyers reported that the seller had not even logged out of their accounts. Even more concerning, 10% of buyers found corporate data on the devices.