Washington Residents Are Not Wiping Their Electronics Of Risqué Info
When my grandparents passed, the job of whipping their computers clean was given to me.
I’m the most tech-savvy in my family, and it was a nice way for me to help out the family.
Was I worried about finding ‘intimate’ or ‘risqué’ pictures or information? I was just making sure anything that could be used for identity theft and fraud wasn’t still on the equipment when we took it to the recycler.
Because truth be told… they don’t erase your information for you.
HostingAdvice ran a study of 3,000 people to find out how many people leave their info, including private and perhaps racy photos, on their phones, tablets, and computers when they get rid of them.
28% of Washington DOES NOT wipe clean their devices.
Really makes you think about all those intimate pics just sitting at one of those phone recycler kiosks in the mall!
Some devices are completely destroyed, but many others can be refurbished and put back on the market, with the potential risk of your information being out on the market.
RELATED READING: BE RUDE WASHINGTON! Why You Should Ignore 'Unknown Texts'.
28% of Washington! On average, that’s over 42,300 people handing over their devices with content they probably wouldn’t want to spread.
Why Are People Not Erasing Their Devices?
When it comes to why people are not wiping their gadgets, 39% simply forgot or didn’t think of it, whereas 22% of respondents thought that the recycling center would do that for them. And then there are about 20% of people who didn’t know how to do it and the rest who didn’t think it was necessary.
"You never know who might find it, or see it, and so it’s just not worth the risk. Of course, having intimate pictures seen by strangers could be embarrassing, but having your financial data cloned or stolen is arguably worse.”
- Christina Lewis of HostingAdvice.
For more on the breakdown, check out HostingAdvice.com's Infograph!
Do you wipe clean your old devices that you get rid of? Why or why not? Tap the App and let us know.
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