A few weeks after the information security threat posed by copier hard drives became big news, one manufacturer has spoken publicly about the issue.
Quentyn Taylor, director of information security at Canon, issued a warning about the devices in a recent Infosecurity.com article.
“People don’t realise that most office [high-end] printers are actually a server,” Taylor. “I always ask my audiences at conferences whether they know this and a good 40% say they don’t.”
One of the biggest problems: a lack of communication between different departments. As Taylor notes, in many businesses, facilities management teams are responsible for leasing the machines, while IT is in charge of keeping them secure.
So the equipment leased doesn’t necessarily match up with what the company needs in terms of security.
Taylor also recommends companies:
- Pony up and pay extra for encrypted drives on their copiers and MFPs, and
- Destroy the drives themselves at the end of a devices life, rather than relying on third parties to take care of it.