Risks of Buying and Selling used Computer Devices

Planning to buy or sell your old phone, tablet, desktop computer or laptop from local market or online from a website like eBay, olx or quikr etc. Beware, you may be at high risk to do so.

These days electronic devices has shows highest ever performance in anyone's life and everyone these days wants to be updated with latest devices available in market or that fits in their budget.


But, if you are planning to buy a new device, prefer it to be a new one, because old devices has inherent risks for both buyers and sellers. If a device is being sold by an organization, you need to ensure that all data from device storage media has been wiped up properly. If you have not wiped all data from disks that could expose business information, personal information and/or other confidential data to an unethical person or organization. And if you are buying used devices, one consideration should be kept that there is huge possibility of residual malware or other harmful software on the device which could impact the organization negatively.

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In a research it has been found that Mobile devices were less vulnerable than laptops, desktops and tablets as they can be easily reset to their factory settings. There are lot of software available using which anyone can extract data from laptop, desktop or tablet media if disks are not properly wiped out. One extra step of precautions to be taken care if you are selling or buying tablet, As tablet may contain much more sensitive information from any laptop or desktop.

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Sensitive information can contain your personal information, user id and passwords of your personal mail accounts, bank account information, credit card information etc.

Final words: What ever you are planning its your own decision, we can only suggest one thing, please ensure all data should be wiped out properly. Try to reset your device to factory settings at least 3-4 times if possible (specifically Mobile phones and Tablets).