Volume 15 , Issue 2 , PP: 244-259, 2025 | Cite this article as | XML | Html | PDF | Full Length Article
Robinson Tombari Sibe 1 * , Blossom U. Idigbo 2
Doi: https://doi.org/10.54216/JCIM.150219
The last decade has seen a massive explosion of data, with a lot of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) flooding devices and the cyberspace. This has necessitated the growing call and global awareness for data protection, to ensure the responsible use of data, protect the privacy of data subjects, and prevent crimes such as identity theft and cybercrime. This paper investigated the presence of residual data and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in refurbished hard drives bought from a retail shop. The study leveraged digital forensic tools to perform data recovery on refurbished hard drives, and analyses for presence of PII. The study adopted a modified form of the steps in Digital Investigation outlined by NIST IR 8354. Result of this study showed that one out of the 3 hard drives that were reportedly formatted and sanitized by the vendors had residual data with PII. Data recovered includes 28691 files with size on disk as 152.20GB, including PII and sensitive data. Digital Forensic tools used for this study includes EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and Autopsy. The findings of this study are quite relevant to current studies in privacy and data protection, including recent legislations such as Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and others. The paper also presents a comprehensive and forensically sound software-based methodology focused on the recovery of deleted data from hard drives.
Data Recovery , Privacy , Data Protection , NDPA , NDPR , GDPR , PII , Digital Forensics , Information Governance , Data Governance
[1] Adamu, H., Ahmad, A. A., Hassan, A., & Gambasha, S. B. (2021). Web Browser Forensic Tools: Autopsy, BHE and Net Analysis. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science, 06(05), 103–107. https://doi.org/10.51584/ijrias.2021.650
[2] Adeoti, E. (2023, July 24). A New Era of Data Protection and Privacy; Unveiling Innovations & Identifying Gaps in the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023. Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4520238 [3] Aljumah, A., Uddin, M. Y., & Ahamad, M. G. (2014, December). Comparison between file carving from disk drive and disk image in open-source environment. In International Conference on Computing and Communication Technologies (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
[4] Angamutu, K. A., Rahman, N. A. A., & Suki, N. N. A. N. (2020). A Customized Data Recovery Tool. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 1712(1), 012019. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/1712/1/012019
[5] Athanassoulis, M., Sarkar, S., Papon, T.I., Zhu, Z., & Staratzis, D. (2022). Building Deletion-Compliant Data Systems. IEEE Data Eng. Bull., 45, 21-36.
[6] Avast. (2014, July 8). Tens of thousands of Americans sell themselves online every day. Blog.avast.com. https://blog.avast.com/2014/07/08/tens-of-thousands-of-americans-sell-themselves-online-every-day/
[7] Babalola, O. (2021). A bird’s eye rundown on Nigeria’s Data Protection Legal and Institutional Model. Gravitas Review of Business & Property Law, 1. 12(2). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4625918
[8] Banjo, A. A. (2020). The actualisation of personal data protection in Nigerian law: an analysis of personal data protection in the Nigerian and European Union legal systems. Dspace.ut.ee. https://dspace.ut.ee/items/ccd6f0c3-6503-4911-b2ef-e145cc517003
[9] Blancco Technology Group. (2016, August 18). - The Leftovers: A Data Recovery Study. https://www.ultimatewindowssecurity.com/blog/default.aspx/1000?p=5f833578-27a6-4a78-b5c5-671847aa0a77
[10] Casey, E. (2011). Digital Evidence and Computer Crime: Forensic Science, Computers and the Internet (3rd ed.). Academic Press.
[11] Chi, L., & Zhu, X. (2017). Hashing techniques: A survey and taxonomy. ACM Computing Surveys (Csur), 50(1), 1-36.
[12] Cullipher, V. (2019, May 9). What is NIST 800-88, and What Does “Media Sanitization” Really Mean? · Blancco. Blancco. https://www.blancco.com/resources/blog-what-is-nist-800-88-media-sanitization/
[13] Dawn Medlin, B., Cazier, J. A., & Weaver, R. M. (2008). Consumer is PCs: A Study of Hard Drive Forensics, Data Recovery, and Exploitation. Journal of Information Privacy and Security, 4(3), 3–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/2333696x.2008.10855843
[14] Dayma, H., & A, R. (2024). Rekindling Digital Remnants: A Comprehensive Exploration of Data Restoration Pathways. International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science, 06(05). https://doi.org/10.56726/irjmets56582
[15] Department of Defense. (2020, December 21). National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM). Unblock.federalregister.gov. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/21/2020-27698/national-industrial-security-program-operating-manual-nispom
[16] Dillard, G. (2022, April 25). Column: Improper disposal of hard drives can lead to health records breaches. The Business Journal. https://thebusinessjournal.com/column-improper-disposal-of-hard-drives-can-lead-to-health-records-breaches/
[17] Dort, K. K., & Capizzi, M. D. (2013, September 8). Photocopiers – A Recurring Data Security Risk | Publications | Insights | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. Www.faegredrinker.com. https://www.faegredrinker.com/en/insights/publications/2013/9/photocopiers--a-recurring-data-security-risk
[18] Easttom, C. (2019). System forensics, investigation, and response. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
[19] Engin Z. & Arslan, S. S. (2020). Cloud2HDD: Large-Scale HDD Data Analysis on Cloud for Cloud Datacenters. Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research). https://doi.org/10.1109/icin48450.2020.9059482
[20] Eoghan, C. (2000). Digital Evidence and Computer Crime: Forensic Science, Computers and the Internet | Office of Justice Programs. Www.ojp.gov. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/digital-evidence-and-computer-crime-forensic-science-computers-and
[21] Federal Trade Commission. (2022, February 22). New Data Shows FTC received 2.8 million Fraud Reports from Consumers in 2021. Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/news-
events/news/press-releases/2022/02/new-data-shows-ftc-received-28-million-fraud-reports-consumers-2021-0
[22] Fisher, T. (2023, September 20). Data Sanitization Methods: Everything You Need to Know. Lifewire. https://www.lifewire.com/data-sanitization-methods-2626133
[23] Funge-Smith, M., & Beokhaimook, C. (2023). Investigation and Analysis of Information Remaining on Used HDDs in Thailand. 2023 8th International Conference on Business and Industrial Research (ICBIR), 306-311.
[24] Garfinkel, S. L., & Shelat, A. (2003). IEEE Security & Privacy: Data Forensics - Rememberance of Data Passed: A Study of Disk Sanitization Practices. IEEE Distributed Systems Online, 4.
[25] Greenleaf, G. (2019). Nigeria Regulates Data Privacy: African and Global Significance (pp. 23–25). (2019) 158 Privacy Laws & Business International Report. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3401783 [26] Hepisuthar, M. (2021). Comparative analysis study on SSD, HDD, and SSHD. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education (TURCOMAT), 12(3), 3635-3641
[27] Howarth, J. (2022, July 1). 30+ Identity Theft Statistics for 2023. Exploding Topics. https://explodingtopics.com/blog/identity-theft-stats
[28] Imrichová, A. (2020). GDPR impact on Information Security Incident detection and response. https://is.vsfs.cz/th/rx5w3/Andrea-Imrichova_-_GDPR_Impact_on_SOC.pdf
[29] Jones, A., Valli, C., Sutherland, I., & Thomas, P. (2006). The 2006 Analysis of Information Remaining on Disks Offered for Sale on the Second-Hand Market. Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.15394/jdfsl.2006.1008
[30] Jones, A., & Afrifa, I. (2020). An Evaluation of Data Erasing Tools. The Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law. https://doi.org/10.15394/jdfsl.2020.1615
[31] Kissel, R., Regenscheid, A., Scholl, M., & Stine, K. (2014). Guidelines for Media Sanitization. Guidelines for Media Sanitization, 1. https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.sp.800-88r1
[32] Lyle, J. R., Guttman, B., Butler, J. M., Sauerwein, K., Reed, C., & Lloyd, C. E. (2022). Digital Investigation Techniques: Digital investigation techniques: a nist scientific foundation review. https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.ir.8354
[33] Nigeria Data Protection Act. (2023). the Federal Government Printer, Lagos, Nigeria. https://ndpc.gov.ng/Files/Nigeria_Data_Protection_Act_2023.pdf
[34] Pecht, M., & Elburn, E. (2020). Commercial hard drive failures in a data center application and the role of SMART attribute information. Circuit World, ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print). https://doi.org/10.1108/cw-07-2020-0127
[35] Pike, S. (2021, January 29). Uncovering private data in secondhand sales. https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/data-on-used-devices/38610/
[36] Putra, A., Siahaan, M. D. L., & Arpan, A. (2022). Comparative analysis of data recovery using easeus data recovery wizard and recuva applications. Infokum, 10(03), 161–165. https://infor.seaninstitute.org/index.php/infokum/article/view/686
[37] Sachdeva, S., B.L., R., & Sharma, A. (2020). Analysis of Digital Forensic Tools. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, 17(6), 2460–2468.
[38] Sibe, R.T. (2022). Africa's Chaotic Legal and Regulatory Cybersecurity Landscape Requires Harmonization. Forbes Technology Council. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/08/02/africas-chaotic-legal-and-regulatory-cybersecurity-landscape-requires-harmonization/ [39] Sibe, R. T., & Kaunert, C. (2024). Conclusion and Recommendations for Digital Forensic Readiness of Nigerian Financial Crimes Agencies. In Cybercrime, Digital Forensic Readiness, and Financial Crime Investigation in Nigeria (pp. 179-207). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. [40] Sibe, R. T., & Bekom, D. (2025). Digital Forensic Investigation of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV): A Technical Case Study of a DJI Phantom III Professional Drone. Journal of Cybersecurity and Information Management (JCIM) Vol, 15(01), 197-210.
[41] Singh, A., Kumar, S., & Singh, V. (2020). Extraction and analysis of forensic deleted datafrom digital evidence using the sleuthkit. International journal of multidisciplinary educational research, 9(10(7)).
[42] Stellar. (2019). Residual data study on second hand devices: a study on the risk implication for people, businesses and economies. https://www.stellarinfo.com/pdf/Stellar-Residual-Data-Study-on-Second-Hand-Devices-Report-April-2019.pdf
[43] Stiennon, R. (2019, March 28). Everything You Need to Know About the DoD 5220.22-M Wiping Standard & Its Applications Today. Blancco Technology Group. https://www.blancco.com/blog-dod-5220-22-m-wiping-standard-method/
[44] Szewczyk, P., Sansurooah, K., & Williams, P. A. H. (2018). An Australian longitudinal study into remnant data recovered from second-hand memory cards. International Journal of Information Security and Privacy, 12(4), 82–97. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijisp.2018100106
[45] Varayogula, S. N., Dodiya, K., Lakhalani, P., & Chawla, A. (2022). Computer forensics data recovery software: A comparative study. International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer Science & Technology, 10(2), 513–518. https://acspublisher.com/journals/index.php/ijircst/article/view/10623
[46] Widya Chaerani, Clarke, N., & Bolan, C. (2011). Information leakage through second hand USB flash drives within the United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.4225/75/57b2ba7e40cea
[47] Xin,L.T., M. I. Dulloo, M. H. Majeed, J. P. H. Wan, H. Azam, and S. R. Sindiramutty, “Cybercrime Unmasked: Investigating Cases and Digital Evidence,” International Journal of Emerging Multidisciplinaries: Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence, vol. 2, no. 1, Nov. 2023, doi: https://doi.org/10.54938/ijemdcsai.2023.02.1.255.
[48] Zeydan, E., & Arslan, S. S. (2020, February). Cloud 2 HDD: large-scale HDD data analysis on cloud for cloud datacenters. In 2020 23rd Conference on Innovation in Clouds, Internet and Networks and Workshops (ICIN) (pp. 243-249). IEEE.
