The latest beta of Firmware2.0 will allow us to safely remove all settings and personal data. Apple has listened to it’s users and especially to Jonathan Zdziarski who created a special iPhone Forensics Toolkit that allowed for retrieval of personal data on the iPhone.
» Firmware 2.0 – Safe erasing

Some of you might have read the article from Jonathan Zdziarski where he states that all your personal data is still on the iPhone after you have restored to a new firmware.

For the people who haven’t read it i’ll quickly explain.
When you restore your iPhone through iTunes, all it does is a quick format.

This means that all your data is still on the iPhone although no longer in the partition table.
If you use Jonathan’s iPhone Forensics Toolkit, it’s not that hard to get all the data back in the open.
This means that all your pictures, e-mails, cookies, etc,etc are visible to the next person who is going to own your iPhone !
» Securely wipe your iPhone the guide !

It’s the night of the warnings, first with Fring and now this news.

Jonathan “NerveGas” Zdziarski, all round iPhone hacker and author of the “iPhone Open Application Development” has found out that when you restore your iPhone to any firmware version, your personal data isn’t deleted or overwritten. So if you ever sell or need to bring back your iPhone to apple, think twice about just restoring.

Your mails, contacts, and other data remain on the device after a restore!!

For now there’s no cleaning tool available yet, but i guess with this news, it won’t take very long.
» Warning: Restore doesn’t erase your personal data!