Most companies pride themselves on the steps they take to
keep their customer's and their employee's data safe and secure. In many cases though, this sensitive data is
readily available when a company discards their old copier. A 60 Minutes report earlier this year showed
how much of a liability these copiers can be if they are not property
configured or disposed of after you're done using them.
Nearly every copier sold since 2002 contains a hard drive,
much like the one in your computer, which stores every document scanned or
copied by the machine. This means if
your copier is resold or disposed of improperly, all of your sensitive
information: copies of bank statements, checks, tax forms, and insurance
statements are available for a thief to view and steal.
In the 60 Minutes investigation they retrieved over 300
pages of individual health documents and 95 pages of checks containing social
security information. All of these
documents were taken from copiers a health insurance company and a construction
company disposed of.
So what can your company do to protect itself? There are two common solutions.
1. Purchase a security kit for your
digital copier.
These security kits act like a paper shredder for your scans
and copies; after a copy is scanned, the file on the hard drive is destroyed. This is a must for any company that is in the accounting,
legal or insurance industry.
2. Have the hard drive destroyed at
the end of your lease.
Make sure your copier dealer offers a service to destroy the
hard drive when you are done with the machine or if you own your equipment out
right then hire an independent service provider to come out and remove the hard
drive for you to have it destroyed. This
will eliminate any secrets that your machine may be hiding.
Take the steps to ensure your customers and employee's data
is safe. Don't end up on the next 60 Minutes.
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