LGU+ Offers Complete Data Deletion Service for Used Phones

'Blanco' Patent Solution Provided
Phone Data Completely Deleted, Original Recovery Impossible

LG Uplus announced on the 12th that it is operating the 'Neighborhood Used Phone Diagnostic Center (U+ Diagnostic Center)' in partnership with 'Blanco Korea (Blanco)', which completely erases data stored on used phones.

Blanco Korea is a specialized company in IT device diagnostics and complete data deletion, providing a solution that completely deletes data by overwriting encrypted data with random data to prevent duplication. It has received global deletion certification patents in countries such as the UK, Germany, and the United States.

LG Uplus conducted a pilot operation of the U+ Diagnostic Center for two months starting in February this year, completely removing personal information stored on used phones such as contacts and photos. The service was officially launched on the 10th, with plans to activate commission-free peer-to-peer used phone transactions and create differentiated customer value.

As the used phone market grows recently, people trading used phones through C2C (consumer-to-consumer) platforms have had significant concerns about personal information leakage. Although a related bill stating that "used phone businesses must delete personal information from mobile phones and certify that recovery is impossible even through forensic methods" passed the plenary session in January, it does not apply to C2C platforms.

By using the Blanco solution provided by the U+ Diagnostic Center, even professional data recovery software cannot find the original data itself. After data deletion, a Blanco deletion certificate is also provided, which is expected to greatly reduce anxiety arising from peer-to-peer transactions. The Blanco certificate is recognized for its high credibility, to the extent that it is used as evidence during security audits in the IT industry.

The U+ Diagnostic Center also offers a service that diagnoses the performance of used phones. This includes over 20 specialized performance inspection services such as CPU, memory performance, battery efficiency, speaker, camera, and Wi-Fi, which are not visible externally. After inspection, an official inspection result report is provided in list form.

Through this, LG Uplus expects that used phone sellers can sell without worrying about original data recovery, and buyers can purchase high-quality smartphones that have undergone performance diagnostics, contributing to the activation of used phone transactions.

LG Uplus plans to initially operate the U+ Diagnostic Center at 22 offline LG Uplus stores in the metropolitan area and expand to 100 stores nationwide by the end of the year. Additionally, the service will be available free of charge to anyone regardless of their telecommunications provider.