New drives enhance copier-MFP security
August 17, 2010 by Steve HannafordPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security
Disks on multifunctionals have been in the news lately. It’s become clear that data thieves can target drives on used computers, which often contain data from caching printed pages.
To help fight that security threat, Toshiba recently announced a new set of hard disk drives that offer both self-encryption and a “key wipe” feature. The new 2.5 inch drives are being marketed especially for use in copier and printer multifunctionals.
The drives protect companies in two ways. They automatically use a security key to encrypt all data written on the disk. Then, when the device is unplugged and moved, it destroys that key. Therefore, when the disk is moved out of the company, all the stray data on the disk is totally unreadable.
All this is far easier than having to blank out the disk using disk erase software or overwriting the disk sector-by-sector, best practices that often get omitted when companies transfer disks. This feature also works if someone manages to detach the hard disk and walk it out the door.
Of course, you wouldn’t want to store any permanent data on the hard disk for the multifunctional, even though copier companies keep offering that as a feature. In our opinion, critical data belongs on centralized and (presumably) secured servers.
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