That old copier: A data thief’s best friend
February 17, 2010 by Steve HannafordPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security
That copier you traded in may be holding a wealth of information competitors and con men would love to get their hands on. And it’s not that hard to do.
When most offices get a new copy machine, they trade in the old model. That machine is often refurbished and resold, often abroad. In most cases, the hard disk drive that comes with the copier is not cleaned off. Why is that important? Most copier-multifunctionals store queued-up jobs on the hard disk. And unless you have and use so-called “disk-scrubbing” software for the copier, it all just sits there on the disk in easily retrievable form.
Worse yet, disk-scrubbing software is rarely standard with most copiers. It usually is a $500 to $1,000 more add-on – an expense that many companies economize on.
The investigative team from television station KOVR (CBS affiliate in Sacramento) took a little tour with a copier security expert from the company Digital Copier Security. They visited a warehouse full of cleaned-up, shrink-wrapped used computers. When they started poking around, they easily found scads of confidential information, both personal (applications for credit cards or jobs) and professional (like company plans and spreadsheets).
For example, they found financial files marked “Confidential” from a local builder. Medical records from a doctor’s office, completed IRA tax forms, child support payment agreements, and a wealth of business e-mails between top managers.
Needless to say, when they confronted the companies’ managers with these documents, they were aghast and clueless about how they could have been leaked.
As the report notes: “Right now, no one has a legal responsibility to wipe copier drives clean of potentially damaging data. Warehouses all over America are full of used copy machines containing millions of files just waiting to be mined by unscrupulous criminal profiteers.”
Even companies that are careful about cleaning up the hard drives on used PCs don’t realize that their copiers also have hard disks that are rarely cleaned up. This is yet another area where your company needs clear security plans and policies.
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Tags: confidential data, disk-scrubbing, hard drives, old copiers
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