Naked selfies can still be accessed on old phones even once deleted

YOU may think you binned that risky photo, but much of your “deleted” content is still on your phone even after a factory reset.

Woman dialing mobile phone.

FROM the “further proof that great naked romps should only live on in our minds” files comes news that deleted content does not disappear from Android phones like it should.

Researchers from computer security company Avast recently purchased 20 phones from eBay and discovered over 40,000 images, including naked shots that the old owners most likely thought were gone forever.

By using some basic forensic security software, they were able to access the images despite the original owners of the devices having restored the factory settings. This was possible thanks to certain versions of Android phones only wiping the index points to that data, not the areas that can be accessed directly.

This is of further concern to those who regularly sell devices on second hand sites as not only can your photos be accessed, but so can other private information such as addresses, numbers and documents.

The good news is that newer Android and iOS devices are a lot tougher to hack which is another reason to check with your provider whether you are due an upgrade.