![\"Copiers](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/computer_security-3.jpg?resize=106%2C90&ssl=1\" "\\"Copiers")
The politicians in Washington have politicized the data breach threats posed by copiers. The FTC claims it is reviewing concerns that digital copy machines retain sensitive information and the Commission is reaching out to retailers and government agencies to safeguard users\u2019 private data.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike you, we also are concerned that personal information can be so easily retrieved by copiers, making it vulnerable to misuse by identity thieves,<\/em>\u201d Leibowtiz wrote.<\/p>\n The privacy implications of digital copy machines stem from a report by CBS that showed copiers were essentially acting like computers, with hard drives data being circulated among several parties as copiers were resold. Markey had called for an investigation<\/a> into the issue.<\/p>\n rb-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I know I feel better about this risk now that the politicians and a federal bureaucracy are looking after my best interests. <\/snark><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ralph Bach<\/a>\u00a0has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his\u00a0Bach Seat<\/a> about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>. Email the Bach Seat\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FTC and congress investigating claims that copiers retain sensitive information Identity thieves can access the data kept on the machines to steal your identity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3240,191,125,1282,951,4],"class_list":["post-2831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","tag-3240","tag-copiers","tag-data-breach","tag-hipaa","tag-pii","tag-security"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2831"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125560,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2831\/revisions\/125560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"copy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/rbach.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/Copier_warehouse.jpg?resize=133%2C100&ssl=1\" "\\"copy")
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz recently said in a letter (PDF<\/a>) to Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) that the agency has launched an education campaign around informing users of copy machines. The FTC will try to educate users that copier hard drives keep critical information such as financial and health data. Unless this data is dealt with correctly, it creates a regulatory threat (SOX and HIPAA). Identity thieves can access the data kept on the machines, particularly as copiers are resold without wiping clean hard drives.<\/p>\n