The Danger of Digital Copiers - Who Knew?

By: Armen Keteyian
Topics: News

Who knew?

Who knew modern-day copiers were a threat to personal and corporate security?

After watching our CBS News investigation tonight you'll see the dangers posed by digital copiers. Modern-day copiers - anything built after 2002 - are essentially computers that store an image of every document scanned, copied or emailed onto a hard drive.

Once that rather stunning fact sunk in, I started doing the mental calculation - adding up the number of times over the years I've used the office copier or that 24-hour shop down the street to make copies of my tax returns, investment portfolio, driver's license, passport or bank records. Safe to say, it was not a good feeling.

As part of our investigation we purchased copiers at a warehouse where 6,000 used copiers sat around waiting to be shipped to new buyers. As it turns out, our copiers contained tens of thousands of documents.

You won't believe what we found.

The copier industry seems stuck in finger-pointing mode. Those that manufacturer copies point to those that lease; those that lease point to those that distribute; and vice versa. Outside of a few companies (one of which we highlight in our story), nobody seems to be stepping up, speaking out about the hidden risk of personal identity theft, the hidden threat to business security.

We'll have a full report on this tonight, on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

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by RedJackson April 28, 2010 9:56 AM EDT: I saw this report, and like many in technology, greeted it with a yawn and a ?So? We?ve known about this non-bug for years.?

The CBS report is pure sensationalism and wholly unhelpful. Despite the claim that customers need to buy a $500 option to erase files, nearly all smart printer/copiers have features to purge locally stored files. Find it in the control menu, hit ?clear memory?, and ship the sucker off to recycling. Problem solved.; Reply to this comment


by hightechgeek April 25, 2010 1:15 AM EDT: Why do the copiers need to store these images? I can see the need to store a large file or several files that are sent at the same time so they can be off-loaded from a computer and then printed, but there is no reason to keep any of the files after the images are printed. They should be immediately erased. I always wondered why the copiers needed such large drives. Now I know - because they never delete anything! They should have a small cache (not a huge hard drive!) where the print jobs are temporarily stored while they are being printed. The cache should be cleared after each job, making room for the next job. I say blame the copier manufacturers. The only reason to do this is for them to make more money - charging $500 to delete the files! Charging for bigger and bigger hard drives when all you need is a tiny cache! Making a simple copy machine seem like a complicated appliance that needs highly skilled (and highly paid) baby sitters! Again, why do they need to store these files??!! It doesn't make any sense.; Reply to this comment


by PeterCapek April 23, 2010 12:58 AM EDT: Earlier today there were 80 or more comments here. Who removed them, and why?; Reply to this comment


by kenhamlett April 20, 2010 9:27 PM EDT: I just wrote a comment about this elsewhere so I will try not to repeat too much here.
Who knew? Just about everyone... except the customer. Everyone on the tech side knew but Jo Average was clueless.
Who made use of this. It has been a nationwide problem for over 20 years. I discovered it before they were using hard drives but they were stealing information even then. Who is They you might ask? Anyone who had copy machine access or control and wanted to make use of the information of others.
I discovered the practice in Sacramento long ago. The local cops said it was perfectly legal and there as nothing to be done. It is now so common that no one gives it a thought. Thus this info theft is almost a national institution, all because cops wouldn't act and manufacturers made it easy.; Reply to this comment