Newer photocopiers' disk drives present risk of identity theft

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Consumers are bombarded with warnings about identity theft. Publicized threats range from mailbox thieves and lost laptops to the higher-tech methods of e-mail scams and corporate data invasions.

Now, experts are warning that photocopiers could be a culprit as well.

That's because most digital copiers manufactured in the past five years have disk drives — the same kind of data-storage mechanism found in computers — to reproduce documents. As a result, the seemingly innocuous machines that are commonly used to spit out copies of tax returns for millions of Americans can retain the data being scanned.

If the data on the copier's disk isn't protected with encryption or an overwrite mechanism, and if someone with malicious motives gets access to the machine, industry experts say sensitive information from original documents could get into the wrong hands.

Some copier makers are adding security features, but many of the digital machines already in use are likely still open targets, said Ed McLaughlin, president of Sharp Document Solutions, a photocopier manufacturer.

"You actually have a better chance at winning 10 straight rolls of roulette than getting those hard drives on copiers rewritten," he said.

Sharp planned to issue a warning about photocopier vulnerabilities today. Sharp recommends consumers take precautions, such as asking their tax preparers or the copy shops about whether their copier machines have data-security kits installed.

Sharp was among the first to begin offering, a few years ago, a security kit for its machines to encrypt and overwrite the images being scanned, so that data isn't stored on the hard disks indefinitely. Xerox said in October it would start making a similar security feature standard on its digital copiers.

Although industry and security experts were unable to point to any known incidents of identity thieves using copiers to steal information, they said the potential was very real.

"It is a valid concern and most people don't know about it," said Keith Kmetz, analyst at market researcher IDC.