Radio Canada has just published a study that sends chills down your spine: more than half of repairers go through your devices to find intimate data and photos. Often, the latter erase their trace, so that the user does not notice anything.
Have you ever wondered if a repair person is rummaging through your device when you drop it off at their store? If so, you were certainly told that it was just paranoia, that the repairers are professionals and that, in any case, they do not have the time to have fun consulting the slightest file. from your smartphone and PC. And yet.
Radio Canada wanted to find out for sure. To do this, the media sent around twenty smartphones and PCs to several repair stores in Ontario, from small local shops to some of the largest repair chains in the country. On these devices, the journalists installed spyware which recorded the slightest movement of the repairers.
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Yes, repairers do search your smartphone
In order to lure the repairers into its trap, Radio Canada asked two models to take explicit photos of themselves, images which they then stored in files called “bikini”, or even “lingerie”. Only 16 devices collected data, probably because some repairers did not need to turn on the device, explains Radio Canada.
But of these 16 smartphones and PCs consulted, 9 were searched by the employee. Some, like at the Best Buy brand, opened the files for no apparent reason, before erasing their tracks by deleting the “Recently opened” folder. It is therefore impossible for the user to know that their intimate photos have been viewed by a prying eye.
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“Following our own investigation and based on information provided by [Radio Canada], it is clear that the technician who repaired this unit did not follow the proper procedure. As a result, the technician was fired,” reacted the Mobile Klinik brand, another big name in the sector.
Others even went so far as to copy the intimate photos onto a USB stick. An isolated event according to the store concerned, which ensures that its other technician did not behave inappropriately of this kind. It is therefore better to take precautions when bringing your devices in for repair. Always delete sensitive data and other photos that may violate your privacy.
Source: Radio Canada