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Why you shouldn't store photos of documents on your smartphone
It's common practice to take a photo of your passport for a realtor, save a screenshot of your bank card number, or record your social security number in your notes. However, smartphones are becoming repositories of sensitive data that can be accessed by third-party services and hackers, despite the convenience.
iTechua writes about this.
Why you shouldn't store photos of documents on your smartphone
Some smartphones automatically synchronize photos with cloud services. In this case, photos of documents can remain on remote servers for years. If the password to the account is compromised, a third party can access the files.
Another problem is application permissions. Many apps have access to the gallery, so, in theory, they can see and copy your documents even if you didn't plan to store them long-term and didn't give them much thought.
Another scenario is losing your smartphone or having it stolen. If someone gains access to your device, they could find photos of your passport, driver's license, medical insurance card, or other documents in your photo gallery that could be used for credit fraud. The metadata of photos poses additional risks: if geolocation was active when the photo was taken, it could reveal your place of residence.
Even after deleting an image, your security is not guaranteed. Copies may be stored in the cloud, backup archives, or on the devices of people to whom you sent the file. Therefore, the most reliable approach is not store photos of documents in the gallery or to use encrypted storage and delete the files immediately after sending them.
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