The copier in the break room looks harmless. Inside, most modern multifunction printers carry a hard drive that stores images of everything printed, scanned, or faxed. At police stations, hospitals, and schools, that means sensitive records sitting quietly in a machine nobody thinks about.
When a lease ends, the vendor typically picks up the equipment and takes it away, hard drive and all. An InvestigateTV+ report found there is little oversight of what happens to that data, and a confidential compliance audit flagged gaps at a sheriff’s office, a charter school, and a medical practice. The stakes are real. A Medicaid data breach already exposed personal information belonging to more than 25 million Americans.
The same program examines a Georgia family who lost their home in a fire as water pressure ran low, 911 dispatch centers struggling to fill open positions, and cyber threats targeting the food supply. Closer to home, these are the systems Suncoast residents count on every hurricane season and every summer. If your office is swapping out equipment soon, it’s worth asking who is responsible for wiping those drives. What would you want your doctor’s office to do before that printer leaves the building?
