| It's about time that you understand that office | | | | were "top-of-the-line digital MFPs each containing 1 |
| equipment and devices that hold information - either | | | | Gigabyte of hard drive space for storage." |
| temporarily or for long periods of time - can be | | | | Another Shocking Reason Why Your Local Copy |
| accidentally or intentionally transferred to criminals who | | | | Shop is a Source for Competitor Intelligence |
| wish to make a quick buck by directly using or selling | | | | When I asked how information could be accessed |
| this. Your office photocopiers and those found at | | | | from the MFP hard drives, she told me that the hard |
| stores like Kinko's can now be added to the list of | | | | drives are "easily removable" from the machines. I then |
| items that can leak your company's personal data. | | | | inquired about how this might place personal or |
| These multi-function printers usually contain small hard | | | | corporate information at risk, and I was surprised by |
| drives that can be removed and accessed by virtually | | | | the response I received from her: "Internal MFP hard |
| anyone who has a computer and a hard drive data | | | | drives are definitely an issue, but what gets me the |
| cord. | | | | most is when people come in here from area |
| Recent personal data losses across the nation have | | | | businesses and photocopy and print dozens of copies |
| been attributed to employees mishandling or | | | | of confidential and non-public materials and then just |
| purposefully removing hard drives for the purpose of | | | | leave extra copies laying around. I am always picking |
| exploiting information that is digitally held by the | | | | up off the copy machines copies of presentations |
| memory devices inside them. The problem is so | | | | marked 'confidential,' 'do not distribute,' or 'internal |
| significant that a major copier company issued a | | | | company information - not for external distribution,'" the |
| security advisory warning that the hard drives on | | | | employee told me. |
| many photocopiers can store scanned documents. | | | | She further told me: "And, it must be common |
| How Easy is it to Obtain Information or Documents | | | | knowledge that documents get left at a Kinko's, |
| from Copy Machines? | | | | because there was a guy who came in here each |
| I decided to do a little test of my own by going to my | | | | week and collected presentations and extra copies |
| local Kinko's, since our office copier lacks anything | | | | left on the printers or scanners. After about the fourth |
| "high-end." I found a higher-end digital copier machine | | | | or fifth day, I asked him what he was doing and he told |
| that had scanning capabilities. My intention was to ask | | | | me that he worked for [name omitted - the company |
| a Kinko's employee if the machines had hard drives | | | | is a competitor of a Fortune 500 company in the area]. |
| embedded within their skeleton. | | | | He was hired as the company's competitive |
| However, I came across a information security hazard | | | | intelligence manager and one of the first places he |
| that immediately captured my interest. I discovered | | | | goes to get his information is the Kinko's closest to the |
| that the machine had a "recall" option where the last | | | | competitor's facility." |
| three items copied or scanned were still made | | | | My jaw nearly dropped. |
| available! I chose one of the three, and the MFP | | | | While I remain extremely concerned about the issue of |
| started printing out 10 copies of what appeared to be | | | | security with digital copy machines, I am also |
| a confidential presentation from a local company that | | | | concerned that companies are actually lurking at |
| was proposing the acquisition of a large, publicly traded | | | | Kinko's shops for competitor information. So, let this be |
| company. | | | | a lesson: not only are digital copy machines not secure, |
| I later checked secondary research and open-source | | | | it appears that employees who lack common sense |
| news and investor sites and discovered that the notion | | | | are making the local copy shop a source of |
| of a merger or acquisition with the company in | | | | competitive intelligence! |
| question was not even being considered, much less | | | | Investing in basic information security awareness |
| publicly released. This could have caused a real issue | | | | training and in annual audits of your company's risk |
| for the company involved if a "get-rich quick" trader | | | | level for information loss can help prevent |
| had leveraged this information in the stock market. | | | | embarrassing incidents of personal customer data loss |
| I then asked one of the Kinko's employees about the | | | | or confidential company document loss. |
| hard drives allegedly installed in these machines. The | | | | Now, the question is: How are you going to protect |
| employee kindly told me that these copy machines | | | | your data both in the online and offline world? |
