Do you copy, fax or scan documents - at home, your office, at the local
library or retail copy store, on copying and other machines built since 2002? If so, you
probably are unaware that digital copying machines (which may also fax and scan
documents) contain relatively easily accessed files on their hard drives of
every page you and other users have copied, scanned, faxed and even emailed on those machines.
And, a recent story done by CBS News chief investigative
correspondent Armen Keteyian showed how used copiers at warehouses are being
resold with all sorts of confidential information on them. When you think about
the kinds of documents we all copy on machines, these digital copiers provide a
gold mine for identity theft crooks.
The CBS reporter paid a visit to a New Jersey warehouse that
resells used copying machines and took along John Juntunen, whose Sacramento-based
company Digital Copier Security developed software that scrubs all the data on
hard drives. For $300 they bought four copiers without knowing where the
copiers came from or what they contained.
"It took Juntunen just 30 minutes to pull the hard drives
out of the copiers. Then, using a forensic software program available for free
on the Internet, he ran a scan - downloading tens of thousands of documents in
less than 12 hours."
One machine, from a New
York construction company, contained "...95 pages of
pay stubs with names, addresses and social security numbers; and $40,000 in
copied checks."
Another machine, from Affinity Health Plan, a New York-based
insurer contained 300 pages of individual medical records, a potentially
serious breach of federal privacy law.
When pressed by CBS News about such a breach, Affinity
Health Plan issued a statement saying, in part, "...we are taking the
necessary steps to ensure that none of our customers' personal information
remains on other previously leased copiers, and that no personal information
will be released inadvertently in the future."
Ed McLaughlin, President of Sharp Imaging, the digital
copier company, was asked by CBS "Has the industry failed, in your mind,
to inform the general public of the potential risks involved with a
copier?"
His response: "Yes, in general, the industry has
failed," McLaughlin said.
"In 2008, Sharp commissioned a survey on copier security
that found 60 percent of Americans ‘don't know' that copiers store images on a
hard drive. Sharp tried to warn consumers about the simple act of copying."
"It's falling on deaf ears," McLaughlin said.
"Or people don't feel it's important, or 'we'll take care of it
later.'"
What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
Simply, you should not copy anything on a copying machine
that isn't your own that you wouldn't want to fall into someone else's hands.
If you copy documents at your office, local copy shop or other places, you have
no control over and no way of knowing what will happen to that copying machine
and its hard drive.
Unfortunately, there are the many companies that you do
business with and that have copies or scanned images of your personal
information. Reputable financial institutions do have proper protections in
place. This is another reason to think twice before doing business with
companies or individuals who you don't know much about or who likely lack the
proper safeguards for protecting your personal information.
Companies like Digital Copier Security, the firm that helped
CBS News with their investigation, have products and services to help protect
your copiers' hard drive. Be warned, however, that the costs can quickly add
up.
When you dispose/recycle your copying machine, either remove
the hard drive or ensure that the recycling organization erases images from it
before recycling the machine. Unfortunately, doing this yourself isn't easy or
cost effective. The CBS News piece reported, "All the major manufacturers told
us they offer security or encryption packages on their products. One product
from Sharp automatically erases an image from the hard drive. It costs $500."
Ouch!
Finally, when you go shopping for copying machines for your
home or home-office, you could buy a less expensive machine that lacks digital
technology and the associated hard drive. (Standalone copying machines are
fading out and being replaced by multi-function machines which can copy, scan
and fax.)