Is that copier a security risk?

This CBS Evening News segment was tweeted to me (stop laughing), and it is quite fascinating indeed, and not just because I saw some really interesting things being replicated on copiers at work in the past.

Now, I will say that it is a bit unnerving, if not suspicious, to see what sort of data was obtained by the CBS crew, namely medical records and records from a PD. Considering their past history, we probably cannot be blamed for this reaction, but even so, it looks at the moment as if this sort of thing is a legitimate concern: your very personal private information could be anywhere in the world, thanks to a copier’s lease being up or its being sold for whatever reason.

Toward the end we see a copier company executive noting that software capable of immediately erasing documents is available, and for $500; per machine, that might be pricey, but if you’re renting the unit or are buying half-a-dozen or so for your office and one software purchase can be used on all of the units, it’s negligible. It’s also a small price to pay compared to a lawsuit, considering how very easy it apparently is to trace these machines back to their previous users. However, my hope is that some bright entrepreneur will see this and develop a software anyone can buy and run on the copier or by hooking said facsimile machine to their computer and scrub the copier’s hard drive that way before returning or selling the machine in question.

In the meantime, just one more thing to think and worry about, eh?