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Two-Thirds of Second-Hand Memory Cards Contain Data From Previous Owners (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Catalin Cimpanu, writing for BleepingComputer: A recent study conducted by academics from the University of Hertfordshire in the UK has revealed that almost two-thirds of second-hand memory cards still contain remnants of personal data from previous owners. For their study, researchers analyzed 100 second-hand SD and micro SD memory cards purchased from eBay, conventional auctions, second-hand shops, and other sources over a four-month period. All in all, researchers say the memory cards they recovered were previously used in smartphones and tablets, but some cards were also used cameras, SatNav systems, and even drones. The research team says the analysis process consisted of creating a bit-by-bit image of the card and then using freely available software to see if they could recover any data from the card. Their efforts were successful and worrisome at the same time, as the team says it managed to recover data from the memory cards, including intimate photos, selfies, passport copies, contact lists, navigation files, pornography, resumes, browsing history, identification numbers, and other personal documents.

130 comments

  1. Just Surprised... by rally2xs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...that it's ONLY 2/3rds. Who remembers / bothers to erase that data, anyway? For my cameras and GPSs, I doubt that I'd bother. Info available is immensely non-useful to anyone else. A PC memory I would erase, and spend time writing 1's, 0's, and then random #'s to it, but the other hardware I really wouldn't care about.

    And who is SELLING these memory cards, anyway? That's not how you get rid of 'em. You get rid of 'em by losing them. Everybody knows that.

    1. Re:Just Surprised... by KiloByte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And who is SELLING these memory cards, anyway? That's not how you get rid of 'em. You get rid of 'em by losing them.

      That kind person who made you lose the card is selling; he can't drink, smoke nor inject that card in its present form. And you did not get an opportunity to clean the data.

      Thus, we'd need some way to encrypt the cards yet still be able to comfortably share them between diverse systems, as unless the card is sitting in the dust behind your couch, the data is likely to be used. Not by the direct "finder", but as soon as anyone pays for the copy, those nudes and bank statements will be out there. Oh, by the way: if you're evil enough, here's a business opportunity. Don't take it.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    2. Re:Just Surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd have assumed this result. Listen, studies for years have said that used hard drives have data on them, the majority of them. Why would memory cards be any different? Are USB flash drives different? Do you know how many data CDs and DVDs I've picked up over the years? What about all those millions of smartphones that go astray?

      All mass storage devices get neglected like this! ALL of them!!

      If people kept their data in a hat, you'd find lost/stolen/discarded hat data. Everywhere.

    3. Re:Just Surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who remembers / bothers to erase that data, anyway?

      Hillary Clinton.

      Well, most of the data, anyways.

    4. Re:Just Surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you stored information about her in your brain, she'll make doubly sure that's "erased."

    5. Re:Just Surprised... by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      When I saw the headline, I assumed that was the number of people who didn't even bother to delete everything.

    6. Re:Just Surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Thats nothing! A few years ago some folks bought 100 used copy machines. In every case, the hard drives in those machines had not only records of copier usage, but the actual documents that had been copied. Wait...you didn't know that copiers had hard drives and kept copies of documents? Some of the used copiers had come from police stations, and had copies of case documents on them.

      Be careful what you copy and where!!!

    7. Re:Just Surprised... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Info available is immensely non-useful to anyone else.

      Last time I found a memory card the contents were useful enough to directly identify the owner even though it contained nothing but camera snaps. Hell the last 2 times that was true and the second time I found the camera in the bottom of the ocean.

      Don't discount what is on your memory card. It's like those people who don't realise that posting a selfi with your plane ticket barcode visible is about all that is needed for someone to come in and cancel your flight on you.

    8. Re:Just Surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we'd need some way to encrypt the cards

      SD stands for Secure Digital which was created to compete with Sony's DRM Memory Stick.
      But apparently they completely dropped the "secure" part and most controllers don't support it. Not like with (S)ATA hds, where the password lock function still is there even if nobody knows about it.

    9. Re: Just Surprised... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Not before she makes a backup copy on Carlos Danger's laptop.

    10. Re:Just Surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...that it's ONLY 2/3rds. Who remembers / bothers to erase that data, anyway? For my cameras and GPSs, I doubt that I'd bother. Info available is immensely non-useful to anyone else. A PC memory I would erase, and spend time writing 1's, 0's, and then random #'s to it, but the other hardware I really wouldn't care about.

      And who is SELLING these memory cards, anyway? That's not how you get rid of 'em. You get rid of 'em by losing them. Everybody knows that.

      The manufacturers who receive them back as returns from stores or customer RMA's.
      They are not wiped correctly (by overwriting them with data o re-initialized them using the proper mptool)
      They get tested, pass as functioning and get sent out as returned for an RMA or repackaged as new.

    11. Re:Just Surprised... by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

      I read that the SD secure part which consists of 20% of the card is still present, but you have to have a special controller to access that part. I wish the specs were more open, as it would possibly be a useful way to back up sensitive data, or just store the key to the rest of the card there.

    12. Re:Just Surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The vast majority cannot recover data from discarded drives, and most who have access to the devices containing the data do not have malicious intent. It is typically a single drive which is unlikely to contain anything of enough consequence to be worth the effort and cost to recover to anybody but the content creators, and that data is typically already stale at the time it was discarded. The value of the drive in raw materials (or use) is typically greater, with almost zero risk, than the value and associated risk of trying to profit off of any recovered data. The risk is therefore negligible.

    13. Re:Just Surprised... by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

      What blows my mind is that it isn't hard to create an encryption system to guarantee that temporary files stored there are zapped. It can be as simple as deleting the old cruft, creating an LUKS volume or eCryptFS directory on bootup, keeping the key in RAM, and storing files there. If the copier gets power cycled, the keys are forgotten, and the documents are never accessible. Next bootup, the files are cleared out, and a new volume is made.

      If the copier uses Windows, a partition that is formatted and a new BitLocker key assigned can do similar.

  2. Academics by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

    I always wonder how these kinds of "studies" pass for academics. Who proposes such a study and then who approves it? Are these the kind of studies Universities should be pursuing?

    1. Re:Academics by Megol · · Score: 1, Funny

      If you weren't a lazy bastard you'd click on the relevant link to see that this study was commissioned by a company.
      But you are, so you waste a lot of bandwidth just to be a POS.

    2. Re:Academics by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      Who proposes such a study and then who approves it?

      According to TFA, a company, Comparitech.com, commissioned the study.

      Are these the kind of studies Universities should be pursuing?

      This wasn't a vast team of world-class researchers. It was likely one undergrad on academic probation working for class credit, sitting at a desk with a small pile of cards, plugging each one into the slot and pushing a button. Total cost: about $200 to buy the cards.

    3. Re:Academics by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      I can find that undergrad something better to do, like updating APK's HOST FILES list.

    4. Re:Academics by cre1mer · · Score: 1

      Remember that academics have to establish themselves with peer reviewed papers. So they need to study something to get started. Once they get tenured at a university, they can study something serious like basket weaving from 10,000 years ago.

      --
      Goodbye, Slashdot!
    5. Re:Academics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Are these the kind of studies Universities should be pursuing?

      Of course. It's cheap, and it's useful to the public. The costs are just buying a few hundred memory cards, and paying a grad student to go through them all to try to recover data. I bet it took less than a month to gather the data, and another month to write it up. That's very cheap, quick research.

      It's also beneficial to the public. Lots of people are obviously selling these things with no idea that the data is recoverable.

      This isn't new of course. People have been buying spinning disk HDs and recovering data from them for decades. These sorts of articles have appeared for many, many years. People don't seem to learn. Today it's likely even MORE relevant than it was 20 years ago. 20 years ago it was mostly useless, non-private data. Maybe occasionally your tax return. Now it's all your private photos. Maybe a couple nudy-shots of the wife.

    6. Re:Academics by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

      It isn't useful. People either 1) know data recovery is possible and don't care or 2) don't know and don't care. As you said, hard drive have had this same issue for decades.

    7. Re:Academics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You see this story every few years, usually some masters student buying hard drives off eBay. This is by far the easiest way to write a masters thesis, buy a bunch of hard drives/flash drives/memory cards off eBay do forensic analysis on them and ta-da thesis paper.

      Work intensive, but doesn't require any original thought at all.

    8. Re:Academics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Two of your questions were answered. You asked, "Who proposes such a study and then who approves it?" The previous comment explains that the study was commissioned by a company. More specifically, the company was Comparitech.com, which is in the article. And since the University of Hertfordshire conducted the study, I'd say there's a good chance they approved it. If you're looking for the name of a specific individual or group who signed off on it, I'd recommend getting in touch with the university directly. With respect to whether these are the kinds of studies that universities should be pursuing, I believe that the pervasive and growing scourge of data and identity theft suggests that they are certainly not without merit. Studies such as these can bolster public education campaigns, make business cases for new approaches to data security and secure deletion, inform private sector and governmental policy decisions related to storage media disposal, and so on. But these points aside, the term "snowflake" is sufficiently charged that I feel it's rather safe to assume that you're on the side of the political divide that believes in the absolute infallibility of the free market, in which case the very fact that this study was commissioned by a private company should justify it. Now, if that assumption is incorrect, and you're just concerned that this study in some way starved a more deserving study on climate change mitigation, for example, then you have my apologies.

    9. Re:Academics by 110010001000 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Excellent analysis. This is definitely the type of research that Universities should be pursuing. They should do separate analysis of solid state drives and magnetic drives as well to see if they suffer from the same issue. Perhaps they could be paid for by hard drive makers to convince people they should destroy their old ones and only buy new ones. Or perhaps they could legislate that the second hand market should be illegal because of the data theft problems. Oh, let me guess: you thought the companies were commissioning these "studies" to be helpful, right? It is amazing how many people get taken in by this fake "research".

    10. Re:Academics by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      But look a who funds these "studies". Think about why they are funding them.

    11. Re:Academics by houghi · · Score: 1

      That is what they did. Plugging in second hand devices, That is how I got access to their network.

      The second resaearch will be "How many random SD cards do you have to put in before your network is infected."

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    12. Re:Academics by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 0

      Nice link :D

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    13. Re:Academics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm just not understanding why this makes you so angry. Maybe the company has an idea for simplifying the task of secure deletion for non-tech-savvy users, and wanted to commission a quick-and-dirty study to see how prevalent the problem of recoverable data on secondhand media is before proceeding? Maybe they just want to use it as propaganda to convince people to only buy new media, as you suggest (which I agree would be unethical). But to get so upset about it suggests that you feel it is materially harming more deserving research? I just don't think that whoever did this work would have been qualified to instead be working on cancer cures or something. Nor would the company who paid for it have been likely to otherwise spend that money on cancer research. So who's getting hurt here, or "taken in?" I don't see an ulterior motive on the surface, unless it is subsequently used to try to convince people that reusing storage media is inherently unsafe. And I don't see how this work being done prevents other, more significant or "real" research being done.

    14. Re:Academics by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Good point. There isn't any problem with using Universities for corporate propaganda, which like you said, would be unethical. You make excellent points. No reason to be upset actually. Thanks for the responses!

    15. Re:Academics by mysidia · · Score: 1

      Next question: How many used infected Windows laptops do you have to sell, before your keylogger sends back some "interesting" data? J/K

    16. Re:Academics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No but . . . how is it propaganda in its current form? Is just reporting that people aren't securely deleting data before reselling storage media propaganda? If that's your position then I can see why you'd be upset. I just don't see how it becomes propaganda until and unless the company that commissioned this uses it in some scaremongering ad campaign or something. I'm not convinced that we have a fundamental disagreement, and I'm honestly not trying to have an Internet fight just for fun. I'm not even saying your wrong, I'm just saying I don't perceive the data as presented as propaganda. It's certainly not high level research, but it comes across as pretty benign: an attempt to in some way quantify the problem of people failing to securely delete data. The results may be used in good or bad ways, but that's true of any research. That said, I can maybe see the idea that this company was just using the university and this study as a publicity stunt? If that was the goal then I could agree with the propaganda angle, but I'd also question their return on investment, because as I write this I've already forgotten their name :)

    17. Re:Academics by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      They should do separate analysis of solid state drives and magnetic drives as well to see if they suffer from the same issue.

      Why? That is what I would call: settled science

      Incidentally that study on harddisks a few years back also got to the number two-thirds. Maybe two-thirds of people don't know basic data security regardless of what they are selling online :-)

    18. Re:Academics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But there is more!

      I will give you 3 of my great ebooks for free if you subscribe to my youtube channel and click on my amazon affiliate links. You can't find a better deal than that.
      --
      I'm so fat that I have my own channel

    19. Re:Academics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Holy shit! THREE creimer eBooks! I have to get my wisdom teeth pulled next week and this is just what I need to keep my mind off the pain!

    20. Re:Academics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you insinuating that there could be bias inherent in company-funded studies? You appear to think that you've discovered something that no one else has. You haven't.
      Most ./ readers are aware of inherent bias. Furthermore, we do not allow it to frighten us.

  3. Who bothers? WHO BOTHERS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That's the first damn thing on my mind whenever such a device is leaving my control.

    WTF is wrong with you people? Bell curve, that's what.

    1. Re:Who bothers? WHO BOTHERS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF is wrong with you people? Bell curve, that's what.

      We probably collect less embarrassing pornography than you.

    2. Re:Who bothers? WHO BOTHERS? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      That's the first damn thing on my mind whenever such a device is leaving my control.

      WTF is wrong with you people? Bell curve, that's what.

      I wouldn't even SELL or giveaway any SD card/ HDD, etc, even if I had wiped it. Not worth potential privacy and identity loss, even if I have wiped it with special software... I just would never take that risk. Who even sells their used SD cards? What do you get $2? Not worth it.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Who bothers? WHO BOTHERS? by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

      I have never bothered selling a used memory card. If it is leaving my possession, it gets the "dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdwhatever" treatment, at least once or twice.

    4. Re:Who bothers? WHO BOTHERS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I wanted to get rid of them I'd just microwave them... that said, I have a large box in my garage with HD's and USB/SDCards in it. once they fail, they go in the box.
      Never sold one... are they worth more with data on them?

  4. Who sells them? by fph+il+quozientatore · · Score: 2

    Who the heck sells a memory card? They are as cheap as a McDonald's burger, and by the time you exit the store there are already larger ones on sale.

    --
    My first program:

    Hell Segmentation fault

    1. Re:Who sells them? by Carrot007 · · Score: 1

      Stupid people that's who!

      The sort of people that do not know how to properly delete files (really a once over zeroing is fine, or choose your favourite number!).

      I am more worried about the sort of people that buy these second hand cards to trust their data to!

      I have many old cards. I should bin them but I like to hoard! They are all far too small anyway (16gb is the minimum these days, 64gb is usual, your view may differ!) I tend to buy above the burger price but below the point where the price gets silly.

      --
      +----------------- | What is the question!
    2. Re:Who sells them? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1, Funny

      I do. I typically make about $5 per memory card, and I sell about 400 per month. It supplements my $50,000 a year salary I get in IT in Silicon Valley.

    3. Re:Who sells them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Thieves. That's also why they don't bother erasing the card.

    4. Re:Who sells them? by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

      I do. I typically make about $5 per memory card, and I sell about 400 per month. It supplements my $50,000 a year salary I get in IT in Silicon Valley.

      Where are you getting 400 used memory cards a month?

    5. Re:Who sells them? by OzPeter · · Score: 1

      I do. I typically make about $5 per memory card, and I sell about 400 per month. It supplements my $50,000 a year salary I get in IT in Silicon Valley.

      So you are buying them for $6 and selling them for $5 with the intention of making up for the loses with volume?

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    6. Re:Who sells them? by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

      I salvage them from broken tablets, phones, etc.

    7. Re:Who sells them? by OzPeter · · Score: 1

      I have many old cards. I should bin them

      Which raises the question of what is the environmentally way of disposing of them?

      That's one reason I also have a hoard of memory cards - I have no idea of the best way to dispose of them and the amount of money I'd make on selling them isn't worth my time*

      ---

      *Anyone want to bid on an San Disk EC-8CF 8MB CompactFlash card? It's Nikon branded!

      --
      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    8. Re:Who sells them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I do. I typically make about $5 per memory card, and I sell about 400 per month. It supplements my $50,000 a year salary I get in IT in Silicon Valley.

      Where are you getting 400 used memory cards a month?

      Obviously he buys them all, you know, with his $50k/year IT Silicon Valley salary.

    9. Re: Who sells them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is Criemer doing posting from your account?

    10. Re:Who sells them? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      You can break them in half to be safe. But there isn't really an environmentally sound way to dispose of them.

    11. Re:Who sells them? by PPH · · Score: 1

      Which raises the question of what is the environmentally way of disposing of them?

      What about an SD card is hazardous?

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    12. Re:Who sells them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who the heck sells a memory card? They are as cheap as a McDonald's burger, and by the time you exit the store there are already larger ones on sale.

      People who steal them. Which is why you have as many as 1/3 being securely deleted. If it were regular folk selling them, the ratio would be closer to 1/8.

    13. Re:Who sells them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He doesn't. He's a troll. Look all over this thread and you'll see him trolling.

    14. Re:Who sells them? by Aighearach · · Score: 0

      Neckbeard tears are highly toxic, you'd never decontaminate their hoard.

      I'd just take them to the local tech recycling nonprofit in an unmarked bag, and just don't even mention where they came from. They probably have neckbeards that attempt to volunteer in exchange for free computers, especially before they learn that the volunteering needed is all manual labor. So they have to already have some precautions; they'll be able to contain any outbreaks. So don't worry. Just don't tell them, they don't want to work that hard.

    15. Re:Who sells them? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      But there isn't really an environmentally sound way to dispose of them.

      Throw them into an active caldera. They get instantly melted down and form part of the earth's magma. The only downside is you have to walk to the volcano- not drive because driving pollutes. Some people have a longer walk/swim than others.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    16. Re: Who sells them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOLOLOL

    17. Re:Who sells them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. To add to your point: if someone is selling a device that needs one of these then they need to just buy a new cheap low storage size card one and include it with the item.

    18. Re:Who sells them? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      Yes. I call it the Tesla strategy.

      Booooo! You're bashing Musk again! Booooo!

      - I was expecting to see you on the Musk offering to help the Thai cave victims article earlier. You let me down, you weren't there.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    19. Re:Who sells them? by ctilsie242 · · Score: 1

      Thefts come to mind, be it cell phones, cameras, or whatnot. A cell phone, even if it will never work for a provider, is still worth a lot, due to the screen and other parts, and a SD card, especially a larger one, is just icing on the cake.

      Some Android phones do a great job at full volume encryption, so the SD card's loss means data isn't loss. Other phones don't do that, which can be a security risk.

  5. It's probably an undergraduate project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The only problem is that taxpayers are funding it.

    There should be a separation of Education and State.

    1. Re:It's probably an undergraduate project by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There should be a separation of Education and State.

      No... there really shouldn't be. Not even close. That's about the stupidest idea I've heard in a long time. We had that in the 1700's. If you want 2% literacy follow that route! It's a benefit to EVERYONE that all of society is educated. Even if you're some rich snob, it's to your benefit that society is educated enough that it can create entrepreneurs, doctors, etc.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:It's probably an undergraduate project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, a private company funded it, a fact featured prominently in the article.

    3. Re: It's probably an undergraduate project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree; but only for K-12. If you want higher education then I believe you should have to pay for it. Now, what they charge now is absurd and I in no way codone the prices of college admission.

    4. Re:It's probably an undergraduate project by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 0

      We had that in the 1700's. If you want 2% literacy follow that route! It's a benefit to EVERYONE that all of society is educated.

      Where did you learn that, a government school?

      Try going to actually look up the literacy rate in America before the US implemented the Prussian System, when most schools for poor were run by charity, and compare it with other countries around the world that had state education, paying special attention to the counties of comparable wealth.

      I know, learning is hard and you don't have much practice.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    5. Re:It's probably an undergraduate project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My question is, why should the taxpayers pay for someone else's literacy? That is their problem! US residents are already the most taxed people in the world, especially with healthcare premiums. If it means a 2% literacy rate, so be it. We are having trouble funding basic infrastructure, much less "fluff" benefits.

    6. Re:It's probably an undergraduate project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have evidence to the contrary of the above poster its on you to supply it. Telling someone to "go look it up" is a load of hog wash. When you make claims, you back up your claims with sources/evidence. All we got from you is some hot air.

  6. You've discovered my secret! by necro81 · · Score: 2

    My secret past-time is buying up old memory cards, finding the goodies, and then blackmailing the former owners, committing industrial espionage, and generally being amused. Now you all have gone and ruined it by warning everyone!

    Oh, wait, people are still lazy? Don't care about security? Wouldn't know how to wipe a card even if they did care? Well, then, I guess I'm all set.

    disclaimer: this post is in jest

    1. Re:You've discovered my secret! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My secret past-time

      pastime (n) : something that amuses and serves to make time pass agreeably : diversion
              Her favorite pastime is gardening.
              Baseball has been a national pastime for many years.

      Personally, nothing passes the time like cruising the Internet correcting spelling and grammar errors.

    2. Re:You've discovered my secret! by cshark · · Score: 1

      Quite the racket you've got going on. But what do you do with the cards after you get the data off of them and blackmail the owners? That's a lot of media. I was thinking, you know, cost per gigabyte on memory cards is so low, it's almost negative. I bet you could do something fun with drive clustering if you had the hardware to do it.

      --

      This signature has Super Cow Powers

    3. Re:You've discovered my secret! by necro81 · · Score: 1

      But what do you do with the cards after you get the data off of them and blackmail the owners?

      Load them with malware, then sell them back on eBay! Or sprinkle them at various political gatherings to see who's gullible enough to pick them up and plug them in.

    4. Re:You've discovered my secret! by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      most memory cards can be used directly by microntrollers with built-in SPI communication. Even just an arduino can give the access. Not to make it fast, but when you're hunting for a "fun" use case, that won't matter; you can still over-build it.

    5. Re:You've discovered my secret! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      disclaimer: you're a moron.

    6. Re:You've discovered my secret! by cshark · · Score: 1

      How devious.

      --

      This signature has Super Cow Powers

    7. Re:You've discovered my secret! by cshark · · Score: 1

      I like the political espionage angle.

      --

      This signature has Super Cow Powers

  7. Pics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or it didn't happen

    1. Re:Pics by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 1

      They're on the card, you just need PhotoRec.

      --
      Summation 2
  8. Slow News Day? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It must be. Or Cimpanu hadda write SOMETHING to get his check this week...

  9. Link to original source by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I could not find the link to the actual report in the summary or the linked article (unless I missed it). But some googling located it.

    https://cdn.comparitech.com/static/docs/survey-data-remaining-second-hand-memory-cards-uk.pdf

    It is linked in the story of the company that commissioned the research in the first place: https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/secondhand-memory-card-study/

  10. 99% percent of second-hand condoms by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 0

    Contain genetic material from previous owners.

  11. SD card sellers are cows. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You are all cows. Cows say moo. MOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOO! Moo cows MOOOOOO! Moo say the cows. YOU DBAN-NEEDING COWS!!

    1. Re:SD card sellers are cows. by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I doubt they'd manage dban, if you want these cows to make progress that easy you'd have to somehow teach them to follow a shepherd.

      No, you're going to have to team up with app guy for this one. Make it easier.

  12. Impersonating me yet AGAIN?... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: "Imitation = sincerest form of flattery" PROVING you WISH you were ME but poor imitation = you.

    * I don't post on my work in topics that don't fit it (unless you of "moron kind" bring it up 1st), hence, you giving yourself away you're impersonating me...

    APK

    P.S.=> What are you trying (& failing) to accomplish? Trying to "make me look bad"?? I have to ask as it's EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for me to "think like 'your kind'" (no-mind do-NOTHING "ne'er-do-wells" that can't think, lol) to even TRY to understand your "mental processes" (none obviously that are up to any good)... apk

  13. TRIM on file deletion would do the job by evanh · · Score: 1

    but alas SD cards don't seem to support it.

    1. Re:TRIM on file deletion would do the job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TRIM doesn't erase data, that's kind of the point. It's a good way to make a card that appears empty to logical layer, but if you access low-level blocks of the FTL you can see a large pool of unused blocks.

  14. FAT chance by LordWabbit2 · · Score: 0

    Why is this so "surprising" - most people don't understand how a FAT file system works when you delete something, fuck, most PROGRAMMERS don't understand how FAT works, so why is it surprising most people think that simply deleting files is the same as erasing the card? Some might go the extra mile and format it, but all that does is reset the FAT table.

    P.S. The only reason I know so much about FAT is I tried to write a boot sector virus in assembler in school. Yeah, it didn't work as expected and I ended up erasing my own boot sector.

    --
    There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
    1. Re:FAT chance by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      most PROGRAMMERS don't understand how FAT works

      Which is ironic, given the high percentage of fat programmers.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:FAT chance by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      P.S. The only reason I know so much about FAT is I tried to write a boot sector virus in assembler in school. Yeah, it didn't work as expected and I ended up erasing my own boot sector.

      This reminds me of this story.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:FAT chance by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      I'm not fat, I've got big ntfs!

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    4. Re:FAT chance by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      Most filesystems in common use don't delete the file's contents, so what's your point?

  15. Help me out by cshark · · Score: 1

    Why is it shocking that you can recover unsecured data from a used memory card again? Especially when you're using recovery software to do the job? This one falls into the "no duh," category.

    --

    This signature has Super Cow Powers

    1. Re:Help me out by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      Exactly. That was my point. How is this considered "academic study"? Of course I get crucified by the dullards on here who think this is novel research.

  16. No doubt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's true. Smart people tend to be kinky.

    1. Re:No doubt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's true. Smart people tend to be kinky.

      A lot of average people like to tell themselves they are intelligent. Just like most people think they are above average drivers.

  17. Impersonating me AGAIN?... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: "Imitation = sincerest form of flattery" PROVING you WISH you were ME & poor imitation = you.

    * I don't post on my work in topics that don't fit it (unless you of "moron kind" bring it up 1st)

    OR

    Harassing others that didn't harass me (most of all, 1st - Megol didn't afaik @ least recently).

    (Hence, you give yourself away you're impersonating me!)

    APK

    P.S.=> What are you trying (& failing) to accomplish? Trying to "make me look bad"?? I have to ask as it's EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for me to "think like 'your kind'" (no-mind do-NOTHING "ne'er-do-wells" that can't think, lol) to even TRY to understand your "mental processes" (none obviously that are up to any good)... apk

    1. Re: Impersonating me AGAIN?... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't you get that fucking retarded spamming asshole AlecStaar from ArsTechnica to post some anonymous support for you. I hear he is a mid 50s loser who lives in a dumpy duplex with a roommate just so he can make ends meet.

  18. I'll let quotes of u speak 4 you Zontar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & how YOU make sockpuppets to stalk & troll me https://slashdot.org/comments....

    Sending me threatening postcards https://slashdot.org/comments....

    Your "watch your mailbox" THREAT & you "going postal" (pun intended) that way w/ MORE 'warnings' from you (wow).

    Take your meds mentalcase https://slashdot.org/comments.... & You're a druggie too https://slashdot.org/comments....

    * You're a butthurt loon freak, plain & simple - you did it to yourself, loser... see below for proof.

    APK

    P.S.=> Still trying to live down how I shot you to pieces in the art & science of computing Mr. Butthurt https://slashdot.org/comments.... ?

    How about proving hosts & my program that builds them are useless too https://slashdot.org/comments.... ? ... apk

  19. Because of the "delete" unword. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The problem is that we keep using concept, that simply does not exist for computers: Deletion.

    Computers only know reading and writing. "Deletion" is merely faked via overwriting the pointer to the data and writing "unused" into the free space table... so forgetting where it was put. While it's of course still there.

    We havr only ourselves to blame, for using that word when we write software.

    "Move" needs to go too.
    And maybe, just maybe, some day, people will know that ownership is a concept not applicable to information, due to the fundamental difference between physical matter/energy, and information, which is merely the way that matter is arranged. ... and the different rules that apply as a result. (Like no-cost duplication and hence infinite abundance and hence worthlessness.)

  20. Its actually very difficult to clean an SD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unlike magnetic media, it is very difficult to wipe an SD clean. The typical overwrite process that works well on magnetic media (hard drives) won't work on SD cards because of something called 'wear leveling'. The new data is actually put somewhere else to keep from overusing individual segments.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wear_leveling

  21. Limited erase/write cycles by Comboman · · Score: 0

    A PC memory I would erase, and spend time writing 1's, 0's, and then random #'s to it, but the other hardware I really wouldn't care about.

    Also, given that flash cards have a limited number of erase/write cycles, doing a proper erase would reduce the lifespan of the card significantly (at least compared to a hard drive).

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
  22. How to wipe and trim memory card or stick? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Any software available that Just Worksâ, or some easy steps that can be taken on the command line?

    Aren't operating systems supposed to trim a card if you quick-format it, so that you could put a single zero-filled file occupying the whole card, and then quick-formatting to effectively wipe and trim?

  23. What nonsense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The number of "erase/write cycles" is pretty large.

    On top of that, we're talking about deleting data from devices that end up on the market; there's no way 2/3 devices are stolen. That's ONE erase/write cyce; there's no need for multiple rounds, or even for writing random data. Just zero that shit out, or issue an "erase everything" command if the device supports it.

  24. I ran ya DRY of "downmodpoints" I see, &? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Arstechnica = losers who stalked me (as you do now anonymously unidentifiably) to NTCompatible.com & Windows IT Pro magazine forums to their public dismay in Jeremy Reimer & Jay Little + Jarrett DeAngelis (who posts here on /. until I drove his ass off too) when their websites were REMOVED by their hosting providers in Shaw Canada & CrystalTech (for both email harassing me caught on a tracking ticket + stalking me & posting lies about me on them AFTER I destroyed them both PUBLICLY @ Windows IT Pro on Exchange Servers memory being freed UNHALTING them (which tells you Exchange is HEAVILY POINTER ORIENTED linked list driven, which leads to memory fragmentation that CAN halt a serverware)).

    Jay Little the "self-proclaimed 'EXCHANGE EXPERT'" HAD TO CONCEDE IT from MICROSOFT'S OWN DOCUMENTATION proving it FOR me there (where they as usual stalked me AS YOU ARE NOW AS YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY ONE OF THOSE IDIOTS TOO ) & they can't "ban me" ANYMORE than I can be "banned" here on /. - as nothing stops ME, but me!

    I just left their site after a VERY BRIEF visit in 2001 (finding they are UNDEREDUCATED DO-NOTHING LAZY WANNABE "Fake it Till you Make It" types - shams & "ne'er-do-wells").

    Lastly - I own my own home (decade++ now) I'm quite proud of (do you? PROVE it)...

    APK

    P.S.=> They also EDITED posts of mine & impersonated me (everyone KNOWS how lame & weak they are worldwide) - put it THIS way: Ask PeterB/Dr.Pizza (Peter Bright) how I ran them off their OWN IRC server & cleared out their 'scheming nest' there in minutes, lol (ole' GOITERMAN frogchin will like the memory, lol (I do))... apk

    1. Re: I ran ya DRY of "downmodpoints" I see, &? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We all just left cuz you are so annoying. We created a new server and channel and told everyone to not invite you. Fucking idiot. Lol.

      You couldn't punch your way out of a wet paper bag, with scissors in your hands.

      Hey Andrew, remember in HS we used to give you swirlies. God you hated that. Remember that girl you had a crush on all 4 years of HS? Yea, I married her. I cum on her face every night. Loser. I still see you picking arguments with yourself, same a always. Classic Andrew.

    2. Re:I ran ya DRY of "downmodpoints" I see, &? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about we ask AlecStaar because he is a fucking retard just like you and it seemed like you two were buddies. I heard he liked to fist your asshole. You like to talk about "fake it till they make it" but your work is a prime example of that. Too bad in 30 years you never made it with your fake security solution. All you ever seem to have managed is put a GUI to other people's config files. That is hardly impressive work or even something to be proud of. Also links to your barely lucid rants earlier in a thread are not proof or evidence of anything other than your own debilitating mental illness. The same holds for posting the same thing over and over again.

  25. people don't understand or don't care by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    This is nothing new. Several years ago, a local electronics junk store got in a bunch of Blackberries of various models (probably a company going out of business) and were selling them for something like $5 apiece. Daughter was a major texter at the time, and liked the retro look and superior keyboard, so we bought several different models so she could switch between them as her mood took her.

    We discovered that all but one of them had not been wiped. Appointments, phone numbers, baby pictures, still intact. No sexting, fortunately, but probably only because these phones had been corporate owned. (Which isn't a guarantee, now that I think about it. Maybe we got lucky.) [1]

    People either don't understand or don't care about wiping their data. Even the ones that do make an effort often don't understand that deleting the files just deletes the directory entries, not the data itself. Utilities that truly wipe the data from cards (and drives and anything else that potentially holds personal data) are known to tech geeks and privacy geeks but not to Fred and Ethyl User.

    [1] Thinking further about it, the last time I "participated" in a layoff, a bunch of us were called to a meeting and told to surrender our badges and phones immediately. I have no idea whether whomever was in charge wiped the phones. Or just sold them on ebay.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:people don't understand or don't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A hammer is the easiest and most effective way to destroy data on HDs and Memory Cards.

      If care so little about the data on the device, you don't destroy the device the data was on, but rather sell off the hardware that contains it, you deserve what you get.

    2. Re:people don't understand or don't care by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      Toss memory cards in fire. Don't breathe the fumes.

      A sledgehammer for the HD. It's not enough to mangle the logic board, stepper and heads, you have to destroy the discs.

      On selling devices, you're right, but I don't think regular people know enough, and there's few around willing to tell them.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  26. Yet you ArseHOLES RAN, lol... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & RoTfLmAo "reminiscing" seeing "'great' (not) ARSEHOLETECHNICA" routed by "yours truly" https://it.slashdot.org/commen... on SEVERAL FRONTS, lol!

    * Hohohohohohoho....

    APK

    P.S.=> ... lol, + you're STILL "butthurt" after such MASSIVE worldwide-SCALE fail vs. me too... apk

  27. Re: faiLzors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That links hasn't worked in 4 years.

  28. Poor butthurt APK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK is mad that someone is doing a good job of impersonating him and it makes him look bad. Unfortunately he does not understand that he just looks bad all the time. The reason he has such a hard time thinking like our kind is that he can only grasp simplistic ineffective pseudo security solutions that became obsolete in about 1992. APK, have you figured out what false negatives are yet or how all your efforts can be defeated with less than a dozen lines of code?

    Maybe APK can whine about being downmodded, or call everyone ne'er-do-wells. Instead he could try to demand that people prove they can do work equivalent to an intro to some programming language course. Better yet he could go off on one of his antisemitic rants since one of those hasn't shown up lately. In reality he will probably just rage out against Zontar The Mindless, Khyber, Coren22, Ol Olsoc, arth1, Brockmire, or Whipslash for a few days.

    --
    Stupid people are like glow sticks. I want to snap them and shake the shit out of them until the light comes on.

  29. LOL! "Your kind" = LOSERS... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Imitation=sincerest form of flattery" you ADMIT now PROVING u WISH u were ME & poor imitation = u. I don't post on hosts in topics that don't fit it (unless you of "moron kind" bring it up 1st)

    (Hence, you give yourself away you're impersonating me!)

    * I don't know WHO u are but I know WHAT "your kind" & you are - see subject JEALOUS "Lil' Jowie" (you of the "ne'er-do-well" DO NOTHING low swine online).

    APK

    P.S.=> What are you trying (& failing) to accomplish? Trying to "make me look bad"?? I have to ask as it's EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for me to "think like 'your kind'" (no-mind do-NOTHING "ne'er-do-wells" that can't think, lol) to even TRY to understand your "mental processes" (none obviously that are up to any good)... apk

  30. Time for storage to be encrypted by default? by davidwr · · Score: 2

    It would cost a bit more but maybe it's time for camera-cards, USB sticks, and the like to routinely use strong encryption with a non-secret-by-default key stored on a the medium itself.

    To the end user, it would "just work" except there would be a "quick erase" mode that would scramble the key then either do a normal operating-system-level "long" or "quick" format using the new key.

    Even a "quick format" by the OS would be good enough since the left-over data would be encrypted with a now-deleted key.

    Now, the key itself would need to be stored on a different part of the device than the rest, one that does not have "wear leveling" applied to it.

    It would also require a device that had its own intelligence, but that's a very low bar these days.

    As an option, manufacturers could have a volatile and non-volatile copy of the key and allow the host device to read and write the volatile copy (with or without write-back to the non-volatile copy), allowing the device to behave both as a "normal" memory stick or camera card or, optionally, as an "encrypted" data stick or camera card where the host device held the key when power was not supplied to the device.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  31. Time to see you SQUIRM "lil' JOWIE" (lol) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Time to see you SQUIRM "lil' JOWIE" (lol) YES or NO here "JOWIE" (hahaha) https://it.slashdot.org/commen...

    * Yes, I know that others WILL agree it's FUN to see "Jealous JOWIES" that STALK ME by UNIDENTIFIABLE fake name posts SQUIRM!

    (Like the WORMS you are beneath MY BOOT!)

    Toxic?

    Freak - get a clue - you're f'ing STALKING me HIDING in fear of me too behind UNIDENTIFIABLE fake name posts (worms like you HAVE to fear guys like me & yes, that IS fear, you hiding).

    APK

    P.S.=> Every SINGLE time you give me SUCH A LAUGH as I box you into THIS VERY CORNER & you SQUIRM, worm, hahahaha... apk

  32. It's a tell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a tell: no bf/gf

  33. ArseHOLE-ian, you've done BETTER? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your software is just fine - well written, functional... I'm going to continue using the Host File Engine by mmell February 17, 2017

    Your premise that hostfiles are a good way to deal with advertising and malvertising is quite valid - by JazzLad April 20, 2016

    his hosts program is actually pretty good by xenotransplant August 10 2015

    his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources by alexgieg September 25 2015

    I like your host file system by Karmashock September 09 2015

    that APK guy, I use his host file by rogoshen1 Tuesday March 03, 2015

    I personally use a HOSTS file blocker produced from a genius called APK by 110010001000 October 27 2017

    * Best part = Linux 64-bit model's faster/more efficient (2x work in 1/2 the time)

    APK

    P.S.=> See subject & ANSWER that question w/ proof YOU have you JEALOUS "Lil' Jowie" (lol) puny "ne'er-do-well DO-NOTHING zero... apk

  34. Goatse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fill the card with goatse then delete and sell the card on Ebay.

  35. The companies that buy your old phones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are selling the cards you forget to take out!

  36. Re: faiLzors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So sad.

  37. Less of an issue now Re:Just Surprised... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some enterprise-grade copiers effectively wipe all copies other than those that are intentionally stored in the copier's "library" during boot-up.

    Presumably they do this by encrypting the files and either wiping the keys or never storing them on-disk in the first place.