copied, scanned or emailed documents are not secure

[Jim Johnson]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/17/eveningnews/main6492698.shtml?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel#comments

(CBS)   A CBS News investigation last month found that nearly every digital copier stores an image of documents copied, scanned or emailed built after 2002 stores an image of documents copied, scanned or emailed by the machine on hard drives.

Watch the Original Copier Report http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6412572n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports parents and students at Dos Palos High School in Sacramento found out the hard way recently, when CBS affiliate KOVR pulled hundreds of student names, home addresses, cell phone and social security numbers off the hard drive of an old school copier.

"The fact that information that we treat very, very carefully somehow got out of our system and is out there is a huge concern to us," said Brian Walker, Dos Palos school district superintendent.

Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey is of the same mind. Citing our report, he called for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission -- concerned most Americans don't know their information can be compromised.

"We have to do a lot more to insure that the public and corporations know this," Rep. Markey said, "and that absolute security is applied to copy machines across our country."

Our investigation last month revealed how easy it is to buy used copiers at a warehouse and remove the hard drive packed with personal data.

Using software available free on the Internet, our expert, John Juntunen of Digitial Copier Security, downloaded thousands of documents in less than 12 hours.

From the Buffalo Police Department we found lists of domestic violence complaints, and targets in a major drug raid.

From a New York construction company, we found 95 pages of pay stubs with names, addresses and social security numbers.

And from a health care company, we found hundreds of pages of personal medical records. As a result of our story, Affinity Health was required to notify more than 400,000 people of a potential breach of their privacy.

"I think the copy machine industry has to step up, provide the leadership and technology that insures this information is scrubbed from copy machines," Rep. Markey said.

Now the Federal Trade Commission has jumped onboard, looking for ways to better protect the public from a simple office copier that we now know can leave behind a digital trail of secrets.

[MaineShark]

And folks wonder why I own my own copier...

Joe

[TackleTheWorld]

(CBS)   A CBS News investigation last month found that nearly every stores an image

Nearly every what stores an image?  copier? 

[Pat K]

Yes the copier has a hard drive that stores 20,00 documents and up.

[Jim Johnson]

(CBS)   A CBS News investigation last month found that nearly every stores an image

Nearly every what stores an image?  copier?

Thank you.... I fixed it.

[Trillian]

Wow...that's just craziness!

[KBCraig]

Not just copiers, but also "workgroup printers" (even if it's just in your own local group). And of course, anything you send over a network to reach such a devise, is probably stored by the network server itself.

Don't forget the color laser printer/copier and inkjet watermarking of every document you print or copy.

[Trillian]

A friend of mine works for a copier company, and he said this week they now have to remove the hard drives and someone has to sign for it that it was removed, and the company has the option of either keeping the hard drive or sending it back with the copier company for wiping.