by David Salt
So you think you have removed any sensitive date from your mobile phone? Think again, it might still be left on your SIM card. Perhaps you have erased a series of potentially embarrassing text messages from your phone...
Maybe you made some insensitive statements about your boss; maybe you have done something that you do not wish your spouse to know about; maybe you have diverted from your usual route home for some reason that is entirely your business. You have checked your phone, and it does not contain any evidence of these things.
However, if a security expert had access to your SIM card, by using a clever piece of software she could recreate on a computer everything that you believed you had deleted and by using GPS information that you were unaware you had, she could even piece together the route you took home the other night when you diverted from your usual one.
There are a growing number of security companies that specialise in analysing SIM cards for employers who suspect their employees might be pursuing their private agendas, and for husbands and wives who suspect their spouses of being up to no good. If you carry out online banking on your mobile phone, or store credit card information on it, then you are a natural target for criminal activities too.
A large majority of mobile phone users upgrade their phones on a regular basis in order to obtain the latest advances in technology. These people may recycle their old phones or pass then on to another party but rarely do they consider that their SIM, from which they might have erased all visible information, will still contain the shadows of the original data.
There is an obvious need to develop both greater protection for SIM cards and an awareness regarding their potential for personal intrusion and identity theft. Just as in a PC when the user withes to remove all traces of information from their hard drive, it is possible to do this by using special data replacement algorithms, new phone apps are being developed that will allow you to do this on your phone, but in the meantime, make sure you destroy your SIM before you pass on your old phone.
So you think you have removed any sensitive date from your mobile phone? Think again, it might still be left on your SIM card. Perhaps you have erased a series of potentially embarrassing text messages from your phone...
Maybe you made some insensitive statements about your boss; maybe you have done something that you do not wish your spouse to know about; maybe you have diverted from your usual route home for some reason that is entirely your business. You have checked your phone, and it does not contain any evidence of these things.
However, if a security expert had access to your SIM card, by using a clever piece of software she could recreate on a computer everything that you believed you had deleted and by using GPS information that you were unaware you had, she could even piece together the route you took home the other night when you diverted from your usual one.
There are a growing number of security companies that specialise in analysing SIM cards for employers who suspect their employees might be pursuing their private agendas, and for husbands and wives who suspect their spouses of being up to no good. If you carry out online banking on your mobile phone, or store credit card information on it, then you are a natural target for criminal activities too.
A large majority of mobile phone users upgrade their phones on a regular basis in order to obtain the latest advances in technology. These people may recycle their old phones or pass then on to another party but rarely do they consider that their SIM, from which they might have erased all visible information, will still contain the shadows of the original data.
There is an obvious need to develop both greater protection for SIM cards and an awareness regarding their potential for personal intrusion and identity theft. Just as in a PC when the user withes to remove all traces of information from their hard drive, it is possible to do this by using special data replacement algorithms, new phone apps are being developed that will allow you to do this on your phone, but in the meantime, make sure you destroy your SIM before you pass on your old phone.