Copy Machines Digitally Store 1000s of Documents That Get Passed on at Resale

[sbr]

Alarming.

[MadImmortalMan]

That's not a security hole, but users being ignorant or careless. Totally different and not really fixable.

  How do the users even know about, let alone erase, the scan copy that was in the machine?  This is a massive security hole that shouldn't exist, because the default copier mode should be to delete the stored image after it has been processed.

We simply redirect the image to the file server and don't use the drive on the machine at all.

Yeah, no shit.  how the hell would your average secretary know that the copier machine is storing images?  More to the point, how would they know how to get rid of the images if they did?

Why the hell would your average secretary be in charge of disposing of the equipment? Surely someone in IT would handle that?

I just pull the disk and run DS on it before disposal.

[grumbler]

Why the hell would your average secretary be in charge of disposing of the equipment? Surely someone in IT would handle that?

Why the hell would your average office or business have a "someone in IT?"  Surely most copiers are bought by business office types in businesses that don't have an "in IT" for someone to be?

[Ed Anger]

I need to check the copiers for asses and taint stored in memory.

[MadImmortalMan]

Why the hell would your average secretary be in charge of disposing of the equipment? Surely someone in IT would handle that?

Why the hell would your average office or business have a "someone in IT?"  Surely most copiers are bought by business office types in businesses that don't have an "in IT" for someone to be?

Then they deserve to let their data go out of custody and risk losing it. 

[Darth Wagtaros]

Why would IT be in charge of a copier machine in teh first place?

[The Brain]

Why would the CSA dino cavalry still not be able to win the war against Great Yugoslavia?

[Iormlund]

Why would the CSA dino cavalry still not be able to win the war against Great Yugoslavia?

Sharks, with frickin laser beams.

[merithyn]

Yeah, no shit.  how the hell would your average secretary know that the copier machine is storing images?  More to the point, how would they know how to get rid of the images if they did?

I knew.

But then, I only knew by deduction. The copy guy could come in and check the machine to see who the last person to use it was by what was copied. The only way that could happen is with a hard drive on the machine. It never occurred to me that the hard drive should be wiped before being sold, though. I guess - like an idiot - I assumed it wiped when it was unplugged.

Our copiers are rented, so I suppose the school district assumes they will wipe the drives.

[CountDeMoney]

There's loads of these technological security holes about. There was a recent study into disposed hard-drives from companies, of which they found a large proportion hadn't formatted/wiped the hard-drives, meaning a lot of information (some of it sensitive) was left on there.

That's why, when I dispose of an old CPU, I remove the hard drives and use a fucking hammer, and drop the pieces in various smokestacks on the roofs of Little Italy.

[Darth Wagtaros]

 

Yeah, no shit.  how the hell would your average secretary know that the copier machine is storing images?  More to the point, how would they know how to get rid of the images if they did?

I knew.

But then, I only knew by deduction. The copy guy could come in and check the machine to see who the last person to use it was by what was copied. The only way that could happen is with a hard drive on the machine. It never occurred to me that the hard drive should be wiped before being sold, though. I guess - like an idiot - I assumed it wiped when it was unplugged.

Our copiers are rented, so I suppose the school district assumes they will wipe the drives.

[Caliga]

Ours are stored locally, but are deleted and wiped after each job.

Same.

[Syt]

Why would IT be in charge of a copier machine in teh first place?

In our case because they also act as network printers. You sent your print jobs to a central "mailbox" which you can access from all our "big" photocopiers. Also, you can scan/email documents directly with them. They're fully integrated into our IT network.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Ah yes. I forgot that other places have real infrastructure.

Why would IT be in charge of a copier machine in teh first place?

In our case because they also act as network printers. You sent your print jobs to a central "mailbox" which you can access from all our "big" photocopiers. Also, you can scan/email documents directly with them. They're fully integrated into our IT network.

[alfred russel]

Our copiers are rented, so I suppose the school district assumes they will wipe the drives.

Sounds like a solid plan to protect confidential data.