Is it dangerous if a phone used for crypto activity get stolen after formatted - page 2.

SodaOak

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Quote from: BitMaxz on September 27, 2022, 09:57:31 AM

Yes, possible that they can recover files from the phone even if it is totally formatted. There is a tool called JTAG that mostly use for repairing phones and also use to recover files the process is a bit dangerous if you don't have knowledge of using JTAG it's direct to nand/memory IC and then can dump/recover your files instantly.

If you want to delete or erase them totally before you format your phone you need some apps called data eraser or shreddit to permanently delete files and then those files are irrecoverable. Now, you are safe to reformat your phone without worrying about sensitive files that you don't want to expose.

Your answer is on point sir BitMaxz, thanks for clearing my doubts.

Lucius

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Not only is it completely unreasonable to use smartphones as a storage for some sensitive information and then be afraid that we will lose the device or someone will steal it - but it should be taken into account that at some point that device will very likely end up in the trash or we will sell it, and then someone will try to extract everything that is in the storage of such devices.

That's why I personally never throw away old phones, memory cards or hard drives - because it's not something that takes up a lot of space. In case you really want to destroy them, take out the battery and break them into pieces, then set them on fire in a safe way. After that, you can be sure that the data has been destroyed.

o_e_l_e_o

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Quote from: Charles-Tim on September 27, 2022, 10:01:01 AM

Those files can still be recovered until certain period of time, but not when you formatted (hard reset) your phone.

Formatting or performing a factory reset is not a reliable way of permanently deleting data. Both of these things simply delete the pointers to your the data, telling your phone or other device that these sectors are now free to be used for other purposes. But unless you actually write something else to these sectors, the data on them is not deleted and can be recovered, even after a hard reset. This is the basis behind the specialized apps that BitMaxz mentions above - to actually overwrite all your sensitive data in these sectors with junk data, meaning it cannot be recovered.

Quote from: SodaOak on September 27, 2022, 09:44:39 AM

I have used my phone to store sensitive information like in PDF format or TXT files that consist of recovery seeds

Why would you ever do this? Seed phrases should be stored offline using pen and paper. If you must store them electronically, then they should be stored encrypted on airgapped devices. Storing them in plain text on a phone is a recipe for disaster, even worse if your phone then automatically backs them up to the cloud or similar.

Charles-Tim

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Not right to store seed phrase and the likes on phone. Get a paper, write it down and have like two or three backups in different locations.

I remember when I deleted a phone audio recording on my Android phone, I used an app (but I do not remember the exact one) to recover many videos, audios, photos and files that I had deleted long time ago. Those files can still be recovered until certain period of time, ~~but not when you formatted (hard reset) your phone~~.

Although, I couldn't get hold of the call recording I was looking for, but there were a lot that were recovered which I had deleted long time ago.

BitMaxz

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Yes, possible that they can recover files from the phone even if it is totally formatted. There is a tool called JTAG that mostly use for repairing phones and also use to recover files the process is a bit dangerous if you don't have knowledge of using JTAG it's direct to nand/memory IC and then can dump/recover your files instantly.

If you want to delete or erase them totally before you format your phone you need some apps called data eraser or shreddit to permanently delete files and then those files are irrecoverable. Now, you are safe to reformat your phone without worrying about sensitive files that you don't want to expose.

SodaOak

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I've always heard from smartphone experts that files aren't always 100% wiped off memory cards, ssd, hdd or other form of memories, if my phone gets stolen for example and I have used my phone to store sensitive information like in PDF format or TXT files that consist of recovery seeds can someone get their hands on these files if the phone was formatted before getting stolen?

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