No Privacy in the Electronics Repair Industry

Ceci, Jason; Jonah, Stegman,; Khan, Hassan

doi:10.1109/sp46215.2023.10179413

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The study uncovered alarming cases of personal information being exposed, including sensitive information not only about the owners, but also about their personal contacts and victims (i.e., in the case of criminals). Finally, our work aligns with a recent study in the electronics repair industry [9], revealing pervasive privacy violations by technicians, including unauthorized access to users' data folders, sensitive pictures, and financial information.…”

Section: Presence Of Remnant Data and Implicationssupporting

confidence: 76%

“…8 The fact that the buyer willingly chooses to keep this content after knowing its nature is punishable (except in specific cases, e.g., if the buyer is instructed to do so by the authorities when reporting the offense to them). 9 To be liable, it is not necessarily required to recover them through carving. Although it might differ in other jurisdictions, in Switzerland, there is no clear obligation to notify the criminal justice authorities if the buyer finds, on a storage device, in the clear or through carving, for example, evidence of drug trafficking.…”

Section: The Buyers' Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

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Security and Privacy with Second-Hand Storage Devices: A User-Centric Perspective from Switzerland

Salehzadeh Niksirat,

Korka,

Jacquemin

et al. 2024

PoPETs

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Second-hand electronic devices are increasingly being sold online. Although more affordable and more environment-friendly than new products, second-hand devices, in particular those with storage capabilities, create security and privacy threats (e.g., malware or confidential data still stored on the device, aka remnant data). Previous work studied this issue from a technical point of view or only from the perspective of the sellers of the devices, but the perspective of the buyers has been largely overlooked. In this paper, we fill this gap and take a multi-disciplinary approach, focusing on the case of Switzerland. First, we conduct a brief legal analysis of the rights and obligations related to second-hand storage devices. Second, in order to understand the buyers' practices related to these devices and their beliefs about their legal rights and obligations, we deploy a survey in collaboration with a major online platform for transactions of second-hand goods. We demonstrate that the risks highlighted in prior research might not materialize, as many buyers do not inspect the content of the bought devices (e.g., they format it directly). We also found that none of the buyers uses forensic techniques. We identified that the buyers' decisions about remnant data depend on the type of data. For instance, for data with illegal content, they would keep the data to report it to the authorities, whereas for sensitive personal data they would either delete the data or contact the sellers. We identified several discrepancies between the actual legal rights/obligations and users' beliefs.

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Section: Presence Of Remnant Data and Implicationssupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: The Buyers' Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%