Digital copiers, identity theft

CBS News just ran a piece on the risk that the hard drives in digital photocopiers pose for identity theft. Most businesses (including police departments) seem completely unaware that photocopiers and fax machines retain digital copies, and unless these are wiped clean, they can be easily recovered with freely available forensic software.

The investigators bought four used machines, two of which had been owned by the Buffalo NY Police Department and yielded tens of thousands of files from their sex crimes, domestic violence and narcotics units. Another had payroll records (including names, addresses and SSNs), but perhaps most disturbing was the copier that had been owned by an insurance company, which contained 300 pages of personal medical records.

Thousands of used digital copiers are sold every day.