What can you do to keep your Broken Phone’s Data Safe?

Only you know how valuable the data on your mobile phone is, what you do with the information is up to you. So, do you know how to keep your personal data safe on your phone when it suddenly breaks?

The answer isn’t a simple one – how do you use your phone when the screen is cracked? It happens a lot more often than you think. The question is what do you do to protect your data when you can’t use your phone properly?

Here are a few things you can do to make it difficult for anyone without professional forensic skills to get to your stuff…

      1.       Use a secure lock screen – Swiping to unlock is easy enough for a monkey to do, so make sure you always lock it properly!

      2.       Set up Find My Device – Install Find My iPhone on your iPhone or Find My Device on your Android from Google Play Protect. Even if you can’t use the phone you can still access the data.

      3.       Change your Password – Use another device to change your Google password, this extra step will stop anyone from accessing your data and ensuring damage is minimal.

      4.       You may need to speak to a Professional – If you feel your data is precious enough to stress over, then you need to hire someone such as a professional digital forensic expert to assist you in retrieving or destroying it.

Looking for both cellular and computer forensics services? TCG Forensics is a digital forensics company in South Africa that is always at your service. We generally work directly for private investigators, polygraph examiners, attorneys and similar parties although we can accept a direct brief from a corporate entity that requires our services. We are able to assist bona fide law enforcement agencies with the procurement of forensic software and hardware once credentials have been verified.

Data Loss and Recovery

Losing your data can happen in a number of ways. From accidentally deleting your files and your hard drive failing to hacking or even power failure! All these things can cause your data to be seemingly lost forever…

However, it is possible for some data recovery specialists to retrieve your precious data even if it has almost completely been destroyed. Should there be data on your hard drive, flash drive or other storage device that you would like to salvage – contact the TCG Forensic Division to discuss your requirements.

The bad news is that sometimes it is not possible to recover the data you have lost; sometimes the system is too damaged to get any data back.

There are certain methods that are used to get your lost data back, however the methods used depend on the way your data was lost in the first place. Here are some of the most common forms of data recovery:

~ File deletion recovery

~ File corruption recovery

~ File system format or damage

~ Physical drive damage

~ Solid state drive data recovery

The one best method that should always be used to protect your data – Make lots of backups on a regular basis!

Why is Backing up so Important?

Your operating system can be reinstalled and so can all your programs and applications; however it can be almost impossible to recover all your original data if something were to happen.

Because of the new ransomware taking over – WannaCry – it is now clearer than ever that backing up your important data and having a plan in place is an essential step every NEEDS to take.

Many things could lead to your data disappearing, but either way, a backup of your data should be done on a regular basis.

Here’s why…

One day your hard drive WILL crash. It is inevitable one day all your data will be lost and you need to be prepared for that day! It doesn’t have to be a nightmare when it happens. Why? Because you should have a backup on hand that’ll allow you to stay calm and carry on working.

Everyone has something to lose. It could be family photos, work documents or a collection of movies you’ve had for years. Either way, don’t be lazy and tell yourself you’ll back up tomorrow and push it aside or convince yourself you won’t miss the data you lose – every single one of us needs a backup!

Backing up is simple. Now that you have decided that backing up is important, you need to actually do it! Luckily at The Computer Guyz we are here to help. Contact us on 087 001 0511/2 or email sales@tcgcape.co.za. Should you have data that has already been lost and you need it recovered, our TCG Forensic Division is here to assist you! Email info@cellularforensics.co.za!

Stop whatever you are doing right now and put it on your list of things to do! And most importantly tell everyone around you as well as your work colleagues and employees to do a backup too!