According to a CBS news article, Digital Photocopiers Loaded With Secrets , nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive – like the one on your personal computer – storing an image of every document copied, scanned, or emailed by the machine.
Many companies sell their old copiers with the information on the hard drive still intact. These machines are then sold at auction, and are often shipped overseas. It’s easy to reconstruct the data, it takes 30 minutes and some software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet.
All sorts of confidential material has been found on these copiers—things like pay stubs with names, addresses and social security numbers (just what identity thieves want), a list of targets in a major drug raid, and information from the Buffalo, N.Y., Police Sex Crimes Division.
Perhaps the most egregious breach of security was finding 300 pages of health records from Affinity Health Plan, a New York insurance company. This is not only a violation of the individuals’ privacy, but is a violation of the Federal HIPAA act and exposes the company to significant liability.
Think twice before you use the office machine to copy your personal documents. Just going to Kinko’s or Staples to make copies isn’t the answer , those machines will eventually be sold. The copy machines in the public library will be sold. You need your own copier and need to correctly remove the hard disk from it before you get rid of it. Or even better, add a scanner to your PC and use that to copy documents. Your PC will still have a copy on the hard drive, but you already know that you should destroy that drive before you dispose of the PC.
Now, imagine all the places that handle your personal information and may make copies of it—your employer, your bank, your lawyer, your accountant, your doctor, your insurance company and the hospital are just a few places that spring to mind.
Think about all the merchants you visit that require paperwork—like the cellphone store, auto dealership, or home improvement store. Is it possible that any of them make copies of receipts, warrantees or contracts that contain your credit card number or even your social security number?
What happens when a crime is committed, the copy machine is examined, and some of your personal information is inadvertently released to the public?
Having personal data retained on copy machines is a real problem and may lead to significant liability for the owner of the machine, especially if it’s in a medical setting. And that data could be used by identity thieves, or for other nefarious purposes. While the existing laws can encourage people to address this issue, the only real solution is for all of us to make the people who own the machines aware of the privacy issue, and of their liability. So the next time you talk to your doctor, ask them about their copy machine.
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