Mobile Unified Communications Featured Article

People are fascinated and feel utterly compelled to switch over to the recently launched iPhone (News - Alert) 5; so much so that they aren’t realizing the fact that they might be leaving some crucial data on their old mobile devices they’re leaving in the dust.

According to e-Cycle CEO, Christopher Irion, enterprises who are increasingly looking for ways to upgrade to the iPhone 5 run the risk of inadvertently compromising sensitive internal information when they recycle their old mobile devices.

There are several incidents when sensitive information found on mobile devices sold through eBay (News - Alert).

e-Cycle addresses this issue by helping organizations take a more responsible, secure and profitable approach to wireless recycling. This company gathers wireless phones and tablet from enterprises, reimbursing them for devices that retain value and recycling all others at no charge.

Irion added that 95 percent of the used enterprise mobile phones and devices his company receives for recycling still contain important data, even though the organizations claim that they took the crucial steps to delete all pertinent information.

Irion explained in a statement, “It is profoundly clear that companies believe they effectively wipe their old mobile devices of confidential information before shipping them off for reuse or recycling, the reality is mobile devices continue to contain sensitive data that pose security and liability risks of varying magnitudes. This little-known problem has the potential to increase exponentially as more companies take advantage of the iPhone 5 release to upgrade their mobile phones.”

Further, Irion suggested that companies should work with e-Stewards and R2 certified companies and utilize third-party forensic auditors to validate data deletion processes. You should also go through all the terms and conditions of your recycling partner, as well as work with a recycling company that tests for active phone lines.