Will full file extraction with password damage my iPhone?

Hi I have been following this thread and I have similar concerns, seen you give good advice before to other users, what is your opinion on the 15 days after deleting? Is that sufficient time to make the data irrelevant? Especially if your adding more and more data each day, and I heard when you uninstall an app and the reinstall the app the SQLITE databases are vacuumed out so the new installation can start its own database, what are your thoughts

Yea I understand this is the best way, but I was asking for an opinion on the matter I asked, if you didn’t reset or destroyed the device, how long does this data stick around? Obviously If you have an understanding In such topics

frosty130 wrote:

Yea I understand this is the best way, but I was asking for an opinion on the matter I asked, if you didn’t reset or destroyed the device, how long does this data stick around?

There is no definitive answer; it depends on whatever other data you are manipulating to the phone. There is no process that erases storage after a period of time. As an extreme example, if you don’t use the phone at all for a month the data will still be there after a month. There’s a high probability that the deleted data will not be accessible, but no guarantee. So it comes down to how much risk you are willing to take, and how competent anyone who has possession of the phone is.

frosty130 wrote:

The device in question wasn’t hooked up or backed up to anything else but itself, just looking for a education answer about the 15 day. Window for permanently deleted files and there remains

We covered the usual case and the usual data remanence early on here, and you've told us your case is not that.

Which means the charger cable is suspect. Those can be compromised, and some of the available cables have embedded communications capabilities. Suspect too is the charger itself, and anything else that's been connected.

Any other servers or services might possibly have copies of your sensitive data, as well, and those can be subtle and varied. As an example, the Apple ID is quite probably also compromised and some sensitive data or a thumbnail of something may well still reside there.

For the sorts of threats that you are reportedly being targeted with, I cannot recommend anything short of assuming complete compromise and starting over. Your adversary has substantial budget, access, and forensics capabilities, as you have made abundantly clear.

Fifteen days is woefully inadequate against the sort of adversaries you are reportedly facing here, and the access they have, and with all the places this data might have gotten.

You will want to get specialized help as well, as there are other paths to compromise your security and expose your data, and there are practices which can avoid exposing data, and can maintain data security appropriately.

What do you mean by "full file extraction?"

MrHoffman wrote:

Or destroy the device. Grinding and melting the equipment into slag is the norm in some data security environments.

I like it.

The phone is used extensively, adding and deleted new files constantly, phone is definitely used more than designed

The device in question wasn’t hooked up or backed up to anything else but itself, just looking for a education answer about the 15 day. Window for permanently deleted files and there remains