Method for removing customer personal information from an electronic device

Abstract

A system and method for processing electronic devices to determine removal of customer personal information (CPI). An electronic device is connected to a test device. A number of electronic devices including the electronic device are received for determining that the CPI is removed from a number of sources. The number of electronic devices include a number of makes and models of electronic devices. A determination of whether CPI is included on the electronic device is made. An identification of the electronic device is recorded in response to determining that CPI is included on the electronic device. The CPI is cleared form the electronic device in response to determining that the CPI is included on the electronic device. The identification of the electronic devices and metadata is reported in response to determining the CPI was included on the electronic device.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A method for auditing a plurality of electronic devices to verify removal of customer personal information (CPI), the method comprising:
 establishing a connection between an electronic device, from the plurality of electronic devices, and a CPI device, for verification of CPI removal, the plurality of electronic devices including a plurality of makes and models of electronic devices;   recording an identification of the electronic device;   performing a CPI removal process to clear the CPI from the electronic device in response;   marking the electronic device as quarantined in response to a determination that the CPI removal process was unable to remove the CPI from the electronic device; and   reporting the identification of the electronic device in response to the determination that the CPI was included on the electronic device.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the test device includes a plurality of adapters for connecting to the plurality of electronic devices concurrently. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising determining an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) associated with the electronic device as the identification. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , further comprising determining a configuration of the electronic device. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the configuration includes a software model utilized by the electronic device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising utilizing a library associated with the configuration to determine whether there is CPI on the electronic device. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , further comprising: retrieving the library through a network connection in response to determining the library is not available to the test device. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the determining further comprises: determining a file type and location of a file as part of a metadata of the electronic device. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: presenting a user interface for receiving user input to perform the determining, the recording, the clearing, and the reporting. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the user interface presents indicators that indicate the presence or absence of the CPI on the electronic device. 
     
     
         11 . A customer personal information (CPI) device for removing CPI comprising:
 a processor for executing a set of instructions; and   a memory for storing the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions is operable to:
 communicatively couple one or more electronic devices to the CPI device for verification of CPI removal, the one or more electronic devices including one or more of a plurality of makes and models of electronic devices; 
 record an identification of one or more electronic devices in response to a verification that CPI is present on the one or more electronic devices; 
 perform a CPI removal process to remove CPI from the one or more electronic devices in response to the verification that CPI is present on the one or more electronic devices; and 
 mark the electronic device as quarantined in response to a determination that the CPI removal process was unable to remove the CPI from the electronic device, wherein marking the electronic device as quarantined comprises setting a particular data field in the electronic device; and 
 report the identification and CPI information for the one or more electronic devices in response to the verification that CPI was present on the one or more electronic devices. 
   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising determining an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) associated with the electronic device as the identification. 
     
     
         13 . The testing device according to  claim 11 , wherein a plurality of the one or more electronic devices is processed concurrently to remove CPI. 
     
     
         14 . The testing device according to  claim 11 , wherein the set of instructions utilize libraries indicating the process for removing the CPI from each of the one or more electronic devices. 
     
     
         15 . The testing device according to  claim 11 , wherein the libraries include a baseline memory map that is compared with a memory map generated from of the one or more electronic devices to determine whether the CPI is present. 
     
     
         16 . A method for removing customer personal information (CPI) from one or more electronic devices, the method comprising:
 communicatively coupling the one or more electronic devices to a test device for verification of CPI removal, the one or more electronic devices including one or more of a plurality of makes and models of electronic devices;   recording an identification of the one or more electronic devices;   performing a CPI removal process to remove the CPI from the one or more electronic devices in response to a verification that CPI is present on the one or more electronic devices; and   marking the electronic device as quarantined in response to a determination that the CPI removal process was unable to remove the CPI from the electronic device.   
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the recording further comprises: marking the one or more electronic devices as quarantined from a plurality of electronic devices without CPI. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 16 , further comprising: processing the one or more electronic devices concurrently to remove the CPI from each of the one or more electronic devices, wherein the one or more electronic devices is a plurality of electronic devices. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the one or more electronic devices are processed utilizing libraries indicating the process for removing the CPI from each of the one or more electronic devices. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the libraries include a baseline memory map that is compared with a memory map generated from of the one or more electronic devices to determine whether the CPI is present.