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Information Technology in Crisis – Three Priorities For IT in 2010 – Part 2

As we launch into 2010, the IT industry is faced with three major challenges. What makes these so significant is they are not on the radar of most companies. In this report I will address the second challenge we, as an industry, have ignored. Although I can't provide answers, my hope for these articles is to expose the issues and launch a dialogue within the IT community as we search for answers.

Your Digital Copy Machine can't keep secrets

You'll never guess who's walking out your front door with confidential data. Yes, it's the guy who leases you your copy machine. When digital copy machines are replaced or come off lease they are wheeled out your front door with a disk-full of images that were printed, scanned, copied or faxed.

Digital copiers can't erase their hard drive so at the end of their lease, gigabytes of images inside the copier are wheeled out your front door. Newer copy machines can make the data unreadable to the copier itself but your data is still on the disk! If you happen to have a network connected digital copier, additional information is retained on the copier such as IP addresses, DNS server IP addresses, email addresses, etc.

A company called Digital Copier Security Inc (DCSI) is a pioneer in raising awareness to this security hole which exists at most companies. DCSI claims they have obtained "off lease" copy machines where they scanned the hard drives with proprietary utilities and have recovered thousands of pages of documents fully intact. Here are some examples of what they've recovered.

A complete home refinance application including applicant's full name, SSN, current employer, previous employers, bank account numbers, etc.
A Spreadsheet showing employee names and company issued credit card numbers.
Full Tax Returns
Confidential Medical records
Confidential Executive Business Reports
Over 20,000 documents were recovered from just one hard drive
You would never let a vendor walk out of your data center with an un-scrubbed hard drive but yet it is done every day with digital copiers.

Don't even think about removing the hard drive before releasing the copy machine, doing so would make the copier unusable and void your lease agreement. You would become liable for the complete cost of the copy machine. Don't expect the copy machine technician to purge the device either; they don't have the technical knowledge of where your information is stored, or how to purge it. Most technicians believe the copier is purged when the images are no longer visible to the display. Don't fall for their ignorance on this matter. Also, don't think you can push the responsibility onto the leasing company as I guarantee your lease agreement doesn't require them to provide this service.

This is one of corporate America's biggest risks, yet I haven't found any company with security policies addressing digital copiers. Most end of lease copiers are sold overseas where recipients of these copiers (and your data) are not subject to US laws.

Do you know who has your old digital copy machine and all your data that was on its hard drive?

How many digital copy machines do you have that are ready to go off lease? How will you ensure your data doesn't go off site with the copy machine? How will you ensure your competitors or hackers won't get their hands on your data through your old copier? Are you at risk of lawsuits from employees or vendors that use your copy machines? This is a security issue we cannot ignore, and it's an issue without an easy solution. The options available are limited and can be expensive for companies with multiple copiers. DCSI provides a certified disk scrubbing service. Another option is to purchase a "Security Kit" which is expensive and not user friendly. The device is so troublesome that most companies disable them over the course of time.

If your company is regulated by SOX, GLB, HIPAA, FERPA or FTC Red Flags, a breach can be construed once your digital copier leaves your possession and control. Considering the costs of fines, penalties, sanctions, public notification, credit monitoring, and damage to a corporate image. Careful purging of these machines should be a top priority for every company.

As you can see from this series, IT has three pressing challenges; Old paradigms that cripple businesses, digital copier security and our "part 3" topic in the final article of this series. These challenges are easily ignored and have been to this day. However, ignoring these challenges only puts your business at continued risk of pending crisis. In 2010 we must take steps to limit our exposure with answers to these challenges. As I mentioned earlier, my intent is to open the door to further dialogue. Let us consider the door now wide open. I encourage you to propose your ideas and join me in a discussion on this topic.

John Bagdanov
Founder and Chief Advisor at IT Answers 4U
John has been in IT for almost 30 years and has supported numerous clients. His IT Leadership experience spans from formal IT leadership to leading world-wide technology projects.

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If you missed Part 1 of this series you can find it posted at our web site or on the EzineArticles web site.

For more information about this Security threat, take a look at the following news video done by an investigative reporter: http://copiersecurity.com/about-us/company-news/82-cbs-news-13-story.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Bagdanov