People, companies, and governments have a lot of sensitive data, whose exposure may harm their owners. For companies handling this data, breaches may result in financial and legal losses. Today, we explore how businesses of used devices can ensure data safety and what data protection practices they can implement.
Data Breaches: Facts & Numbers
Understanding potential cybersecurity risks for your business is crucial when choosing effective steps to protect data. According to IBM research, in 2024, the average cost of a data breach increased by 10% from the previous year, reaching $4.88 million.
Statista reports that 422.61 million data records were exposed as a result of data breaches in the third quarter of 2024. It took companies an average of 194 days to identify the data leak and 64 days to contain it.
We have previously covered two notable cases of data breaches at telecom service providers: T-Mobile and AT&T. Another relevant example for businesses in our field is device manufacturers.
In 2022, Samsung reported that the personal data of more than 3,000 clients was exposed. Although sensitive data like Social Security numbers and credit card details were not leaked, hackers gained access to customers’ names, dates of birth, and information about phone registration.
A similar incident occurred with another manufacturer, Nothing. In 2022, the email addresses of 2,250 users were exposed. The company took action to fix the vulnerabilities and advised users to stay vigilant against spam and phishing attacks.
Why Must Used Device Businesses Erase Data Securely?
Used phones might contain sensitive information from previous owners, and businesses that resell such devices are obligated to irreversibly destroy this data. Otherwise, what risks do businesses face if this data is exposed?
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Reputational loss. Naturally, people will be less likely to trust you with their data and may avoid using your services. Although some leaked information may not be sensitive, a data breach itself is compromising enough to harm your reputation.
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Legal issues. In most countries, data protection laws are strict, requiring companies to handle sensitive information securely. Violations of these regulations can result in penalties or even criminal charges for those responsible.
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Financial obligations. Fines for improper management of customer data depend on the jurisdiction. For example, in Europe, businesses may face fines of up to €20 million or 4% of their annual global turnover for violating GDPR. Moreover, beyond legal penalties, companies must also cover the costs of mitigating the consequences and preventing future data breaches.
How Phone Businesses Erase Data Manually
To avoid the above-mentioned consequences, businesses that handle pre-owned devices must irreversibly erase information in accordance with industry data destruction standards.
Some companies choose to do this manually: testers need to open the Settings menu and perform a factory reset. Although this may sound simple, there are two major drawbacks to this approach:
- Manual work is time-consuming and prone to human error. People make mistakes, forget to perform data erasure, or get distracted and spend too much time on the task. For businesses, these factors lead to additional expenses and increase the risk of data leaks.
- A factory reset does not guarantee the irrecoverability of sensitive data. Depending on the device model, encryption, and how the factory reset was performed, data may still be recoverable in some cases. The risks are especially high for older Android models with unencrypted storage.
To avoid these significant disadvantages, businesses should use data wiping software certified by reputable regulators.
Secure Data Erasure: An Innovative Solution
The data wiping solution must work efficiently in two areas: protecting data and optimizing business workflows. NSYS Data Erasure excels at both.
Workflow Optimization
The solution performs automated data erasure, ensuring no personal data is left on the device. You can set the workflow in the most convenient way—for example, automating data wiping to occur after a specific test.
Moreover, NSYS Data Erasure streamlines the process, allowing up to 60 devices to be connected to a single PC simultaneously. Thanks to this feature, you can speed up phone processing and optimize time management.
Data Security
NSYS Data Erasure destroys data in compliance with international regulations, ensuring irrecoverability and security. The solution complies with ADISA, NIST, R2, and GDPR, meeting the highest standards set by these guidelines.
For each wiped device, NSYS Data Erasure provides a certificate of certified data destruction. Businesses can use these certificates both internally and externally—for one-click verification of data erasure or as proof of a device’s value to customers. Additionally, NSYS Group is trusted by marketplaces like Amazon, Back Market, and Refurbed, where the certificates provided by our software can be used to facilitate resale on these platforms.
Data Erasure is a Core Part of Phone Processing
Data wiping is a crucial part of device processing. However, other steps are just as important, such as functional testing, cosmetic grading, and setting the resale price. These processes can also be time-consuming and prone to human errors, but automation helps improve efficiency.
How can businesses automate every step of phone processing, including highly subjective ones like grading or variable ones like pricing? The answer is Reeva, the unique phone testing robot.
Reeva automates the entire process, taking less than 5 minutes to test, grade, wipe, and price a device. Additionally, the robot eliminates subjectivity, human errors, and fraud, increasing efficiency and boosting productivity.
The robot is versatile and can be used both in stores and warehouses. Retail businesses can use Reeva to attract customers to their stores, quickly and independently evaluate devices in minutes, and set a fair price based on the customizable pricing calculator. Meanwhile, wholesale businesses will benefit from increased processing speeds—one tester with a Reeva robo-line can process more than 75 phones per hour.
Elevate used phone testing while ensuring certified data erasure—try Reeva!
