By Robert Scott, P.I.
Photocopiers can now be added to the list of items leaking personal data, according to the Sharp copier company. The company recently released a security advisory warning that the hard drives on many photocopiers are storing scanned documents -- long after actual copies have been made.
Does this mean that a person who stops by the corner copy shop to copy his income tax form is at risk of his personal information being compromised? Or that anyone with access to the company office machine after hours can do some unauthorized intelligence gathering?
This story was widely circulated on Internet news sites and elsewhere recently. I wanted to learn if this was really true or just an Internet myth, so I made a trip to my local copy shop. There were two basic types of copiers. A Xerox Docucolor and a Canon ImageRunner. I couldn't get anything out of the Xerox. On the Canon, after exploring the various menus and sub menus I found my way to a "recall" option where the last three items printed were still available! I picked one and it started printing out 60 copies of an actress's resume! Apparently, that's who had been on the machine before me! So, is there a security flaw on some digital copy machines? Apparently so!
Robert Scott is a Los Angeles-based private investigator and author of "The Investigator's Little Black Book."© 2008 Crime Time Publishing Co., Inc. Originally published at www.CrimeTime.com.
3 comments:
Copy machines? That's crazy. What do they want to do, reminisce with the next generation of copy machines?
Thanks for the tip.
Interesting -
and with most subjects, this is just the "tip of the Iceberg".
Any "digital" copier or output device has the ability to be "hacked" or compromised.
The experience at the local copy store is a simple and alarming example.
I have been able to intercept a "print stream" on its way to a copier that acts as a printer. Once the data stream was loaded into Notepad, I changed the name on the check to mine, the amount to One Billion dollars...and released the stream.
To my amazement, a crisp, newly printed and digitally signed check for 1 billion dollars spit out...
...and there is so much more...
http://thedeathofthecopier.blogspot.com/
It is amazing isn't it? I personally refuse to use copy machines in stores. Thank you for your comments.
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