Patty's Business Blog

When it comes to office security, most managers focus on strengthening their computers. One piece of office equipment not nearly enough people focus on is one you may not even realise can leak data: your photocopier.

These days, all digital photocopiers are installed with a computer hard drive that processes and stores every image you scan, send, or copy from the device. This ensures the photocopier can keep up with every task speedily and efficiently. However, it also prevents a security problem. If you send sensitive documents to the copier, those documents can be stolen in a data breach, either manually, via Wi-Fi or through the business network.

Thankfully, there are several ways you can improve your copier security. Here are just a few tips for preventing data leaks.

Train Your Staff in Safe Copier Use

The first thing you need to do is educate your staff on the risks of photocopier data leaks and how to prevent them. For example, all staff should be trained to only photocopy or scan sensitive documents when strictly necessary. If the relevant information on these documents can quickly and easily be typed into a secure computer, there's no need to use the copier. Staff should also be trained to collect their copies as soon as possible to prevent anyone else form taking them. If you have an up-to-date copier model, you may have a feature that delays printing copies until someone is at the machine ready to collect them. Make sure the people using your copier are people you can trust.

Use a Copier with Access Control

If you're tough on security, your business probably already makes use of access control—for example, using key cards to keep low-level personnel out of certain rooms, or locking computers with passwords. As long as you choose the right model, you can do the same with your copier. This feature is usually called User Authentication, and it allows you to set a password or user key that prevents people from using the copier. Some will even allow you to set multiple user keys so you can monitor who was using the machine in the event that anything goes wrong. While access control won't usually stop people from gaining remote access to your machine, it will ensure that those who aren't trained to use the copier diligently cannot access it. Ideally, only your most trusted, upper-level staff should be able to access photocopiers.

To learn more, talk to a company like Central Business Equipment.