Nowadays companies all over the world have started taking more and more measures to protect their privacy and data. They are now using firewalls, security software, anti-theft components, network protectors and things like that.

But there is one important device, which often gets overlooked. This is your photocopier.

Yes, that innocent dumb looking machine, which contains often enough intelligence to store the images of whatever has been copied and stored through them. Many people do not know that most of the photocopiers sold in the last 5-6 years have a built in hard disk, which gradually collects lots of private data about you and your company. The purpose of using a hard disk is clear, when you think how a photocopier would be making say 100 copies of a document after scanning the same for one a single time.

Yes, the document is scanned and the image is stored in the hard disk to make the multiple copies.

And here lies the problem.

Over a period of time, this dumb looking machine collects enough data, which can potentially tell your competitors a lot about your secrets. So next time, when you are trying to sell your old photocopier, just remember this aspect and take action accordingly.

CBSNews recently carried an interesting story on this issue. Worth reading.