Data Stored on Photocopiers

Keep in mind that a photocopier contains a hard drive that will store images of documents that have been photocopied, scanned, or faxed. It's important to confirm that copiers used by law firms and businesses encrypt data on these hard drives, so it cannot be accessed without special software. Some copiers can be set to overwrite data after each job, or at set intervals.

Xerox has published a guide that indicates which of its current models has a disk drive; which overwrite data immediately or at intervals; and which encrypts data on the hard drive.

Nearly all of the models with drives, also provide AES data encryption. Many Xerox copiers overwrite images automatically by default. The manual states that Xerox's overwriting process conforms to the National Institute of Standard and Technology's Special Publication 800-88, Guidelines for Media Sanitization. An overwrite process can also be activated that will wipe data on every sector of the hard drive.

A Xerox technician can remove the hard drive from a copier and provide it to a client upon request.

Images are not overwritten on copiers using solid state drives.