PTA Announces Guidelines to Protect Personal Data on Mobile Phones

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued important guidelines urging citizens to protect their personal and sensitive information before selling, giving away, or handing over their mobile phones for repair.

Smartphones often contain private photographs, contacts, messages, documents, passwords, and access to social media and other online accounts.

To protect your privacy, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) recommends taking the following steps before handing over your device:

Before selling or handing over your phone, PTA has advised users for factory reset, as modern software can help people recover their personal data after a normal reset

After the first factory reset, transfer some ordinary or non-sensitive photos and videos back to the phone and perform another factory reset. This additional step can significantly reduce the possibility of recovering previously stored personal data.

Before deleting files, back up important photographs, contacts, documents, and other data to a secure location, such as cloud storage or an external hard drive.