The Civil Guard warns that it is necessary to deliver the device when the intimate information is not available to the next owner
If your mobile phone is old and you want to sell it or give it to someone else, you should take several precautions before disposing of it. A lot of intimate and personal information is stored on this small device, such as photos, videos, emails and passwords for different applications such as your bank account. For this reason, the Civil Guard warns that it is necessary to deliver the mobile when all these personal data are not available to the next owner.
The Internet Security Office gives a series of recommendations to maintain the security and privacy of your information online and thus avoid theft or identity theft. Specifically, there are three guidelines that you must follow whether it is an Android or an iPhone.
1. Make a backup
This step is essential if you do not want to lose photographic memories, WhatsApp conversations or phone contacts. Whatever the reason, it is important to make a backup. In addition, the change of mobile phone will be much easier. A piece of advice that will also help you if you lose your device or it is stolen.
2. Encrypt your device
To make a file unreadable so that only the owner of the password can decrypt it, the encryption method is used. Thus, only you can access personal information. Apple users can skip this step because their terminals include encryption by default. In case you have an android, it was also incorporated into all your devices in version 6.0. If you have updated the system with a previous version, you can activate encryption. Follow the next path: Settings> Security> Encrypt phone, and you will have this function available. Then, you will only have to complete the process with the instructions that will appear. Provided that the device allows the use of SD memory cards and is going to be delivered together with the terminal, it is convenient to encrypt it as well.
3. Unlink your account from the old device
The third step is essential to protect all your personal information and not allow access to the linked mobile phone account. Once the backup has been made and our device has been encrypted, it is time to log out and unlink the device from our iCloud or Google account depending on the operating system we are using, since this way we will stop receiving any kind of alert related to the device in question.
– iOS system. To unlink the device from the iCloud account, follow these steps: Settings> iCloud> Sign out
– Android system. To unlink the account on an Android device you must complete the following steps: Settings > Accounts. In this way you will be able to know all the services that are connected to an account. One by one you can unlink through the option of the three circles icon at the top. Here, you have to select the option of ‘Delete account’.
4. Restore the device
After following all the previous steps, there will be no way for cybercriminals to access the information and data on your mobile phone. It is time to restore the device to factory settings, that is, mark the space that the data occupied, as available, so that in the eyes of the operating system it does not include any data.
– iOS system. Follow the next path: Settings> General> Reset. Then click on the ‘Delete content and settings’ option. You may be required to sign in with your Apple ID and password.
– Android. In this case you have to delete all the files from the SD in Settings> Storage> Delete SD card. Don’t worry because the SD storage card will not be erased when you do the factory reset.
From the Internet Security Office they warn that if you skip the step of encrypting the device, the new owner, using the appropriate tools, could recover all the personal information.
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