How To Have Safe Sext

A few months ago someone pointed out that everything on Snapchat is saved on your phone and the whole world freaked out at all the dick pics they’d released into the universe. Now you’d think the revelation that everything you put on the internet is filed away until you run for the PTA would scare people straight on the whole “regrettable text” subject—but it didn’t. It seems no matter how many experts tell you not to send incriminating texts, emails, and photos, it’s human nature to take a picture of your butt and send it to your loved ones.

But don’t worry you pile of pervs, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your disgusting habits online. Computer forensic specialist Trent Leavitt from Decipher Forensics has some tips to help you maintain your depraved lifestyle while remaining scandal free. When it comes to getting your dick out, love will find a way.

VICE: If you delete an email in your inbox is it really deleted?
Trent Leavitt: No, it is not. In programs like Outlook they are simple to recover. Even if you have email programs like Yahoo and Gmail, they will still leave partials on the computer that can be pulled off with relative ease.

If you need it to be really deleted, what should you do?
Most people assume that formatting the drive is what it take to wipe away the data. The term wipe is sometimes used mistakenly in place of reformat. To truly "wipe" a drive you must use a wiping software or hardware. The standard is to wipe it at least 3 times. Many government agencies choose to wipe as many as 27 times.

Gross, I wonder what they had on there to need 27 wipes. Does the same thing apply to chat history? I feel like that’s really where people let loose.
Chat history can also be recovered. Some chat logs will store your chats by default, some don't. Either way they can be partially recoverable with minimal skill.

What about the infamous saved Snap Chats, can we delete them from our phone?
The short answer is that on an Android phone you really can't until you have rooted the phone and manually delete the picture. Even after that you still must wait for the photo to be overwritten with new data. On IOS devices we have not been able to recover photos, but we are able to recover videos.

If the lure of the incriminating photo is just too much, and you have to take one, is there anyway to protect yourself from someone screen capturing something you’ve sent?
Not to my knowledge. Many people will simply use another phone to take a picture of the image as it comes across. The simplest way to protect yourself, my parenting side is coming out here, is to not do it. If it's not a picture you are comfortable sharing on Facebook or with your parents or your clergyman then simply don't do it.

The clergyman really narrows the field. Got any tips to generally avoid humiliating yourself online?
People are far too trusting online. I am surprised what information you are able to find out about people with little to no effort. Social media in particular offers the would be criminal a killing field of information about people around the world or in the town they live. I’m always surprised to see people posting their travel plans and letting the world know when their flat won’t be occupied. The use of wi-fi hotspots is also a bad idea in my opinion. The right person with some easy to use free software could potentially be watching everything that you do. I never use wi-fi hotspots.

Oh man, hotspots are going to be hard to give up. Apart from what we’ve already talked about, does the way young people use the internet worry you?
Young people need to look ahead. They are posting random pictures of themselves in situations that future employers might not find impressive. The issue of cyber bullying is very real regardless of where you live. The pressure that a young person faces when they know that comments and or pictures are being used to mock them is something they shouldn't have to face. Many young people commit suicide every year because of cyber bullying. I would say in general that young people are more aware of the capabilities of the internet than parents, but seem to care less about it than parents.

Are people getting smarter or dumber when it comes to how they use the internet? We’re more familiar with it, but are we also more blind to the treats it can carry?
As a general statement we are getting smarter, but at the same time dumber. We know more and are capable of more, but we fail to see the risks of the way we use the internet and how easy it is to have spyware or malware placed on your machine. We fail to see the obvious.

Which (for the readers) is?
More and more crime is computer based. Having a criminal set up a double proxy server to hide himself and work from another country to extort money or random information to sell on the black market is not hard to do. It seems that most people on the internet are like a huge field of sheep with wolves living among us. The wolves are plucking us off one by one and typically the other sheep don't see it, so we just go about our lives on the internet.

Follow Wendy on Twitter: @WendyWends

For more sexting: 

Supporting The Troops Through Sexting

How To Sext Without Looking Like An Idiot

Have You Ever Pretended To Be Someone Else Online?