Your old fax machine –- a big security weakness
December 15, 2009 by Steve HannafordPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Security
Does your company still have old-fashioned thermal fax machines? If so, you may be handing away vital company secrets.
Instead of laser fax machines or MFPS, many companies still use the old thermal models. You know — the ones that print using specially coated paper that tends to roll up once it leaves the machine.
The reason for the concern is the carbon ribbon used in older fax machines, a medium that preserves every fax received, in negative. These carbon ribbons are, in many cases, just tossed into trash. At these may be a rich source of credit card numbers, medical information, birth certificates and all kinds of other data that a crook might be interested in.
The carbon rolls hold from 250 to 500 feet of old faxes. Investigators found a wealth of private information in used rolls with a simple search.
The only good way to get rid of the information is through physically tearing up the carbon rolls or by incinerating them. All-in-all, it’s another good reason to go digital, even for the hard0liners.
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Tags: carbon ribbon, fax, private data, thermal fax machines
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December 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Same thing with typewriters that use film ribbons.
December 16th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Many companies still use the old thermal models? I have been dealing with small “mom and pop” type businesses. I have not seen any of these thermal models in ten years!
December 16th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Uhh…. I could be mistaken, but THERMAL faxes use THERMAL paper. They don’t have a carbon / ribbon. When a heated pin hits the specially-coated thermal paper, it changes color.
Have you ever left a gas receipt in the sun? It turns all black.
MUCH-older fax machines, called impact printers, do use ribbons, but they haven’t been in common use since thermal faxes took over in the 90′s — specifically for the reason mentioned: Thermal faxes don’t have a ribbon that retains sensitive information.