The legal industry represents the second largest market for copier vendors. As you all know, law firms are constantly printing and making copies. It is also common knowledge that computers store information on hard disk drives, but did you know that your copy machine has the ability to do that as well? Some printers and most copiers also contain hard drives that record and store data. Residual data remains on the disk after printing and copying, and can be easily accessed by anyone
that gains possession of that hard drive.

A critical part of your IT security process should include addressing these printers and copy machines for the security risk that they can potentially pose. We encourage you to discuss these options with your copier vendor, and strongly recommend you to personally review the results.

HARD DISK REMOVAL –
Many vendors allow you to retain the hard drive of a copier when it is to be replaced. This should be the most preferred option to the firm. This way, you can personally destroy the hard drive which will ensure that your data does not get into the wrong hands. There are several tools you can use to do this, both software and device oriented (think shredder/trash compactor). This is a quick but necessary task to ensure that there is no chance for error.

DATA ENCRYPTION –
Chances are your copier allows for data encryption. You should use this function whenever possible. By encrypting the data on the hard drive, you help ensure that nobody can access the data if the hard drive is ever to be misplaced or compromised. Although this could increase the likelihood of data loss, this should not be of concern. Users will always be able to make copies, regardless of whether or not data is stored on the hard drive.

DISK IMAGE OVERWRITE –
It is important to check and see if your copier meets the standards set by the US Department of Defense in 2006. If it does, then your copier will have a feature allowing you to perform a disk overwrite. This feature should allow for three different settings to manage your printer or copier hard drive. These settings will allow for immediate, scheduled or on-demand purging of stored data. If available, we recommend setting a scheduled job to occur everyday or every week to make sure this confidential data is regularly removed.