Copy Machines Have Hard Drives.

[Geek-9pm]

You already knew that. -Right?
CBS did a story on this in 2012. Here it is on You Tube.

CBS NEWS ~ Copy Machines ~ A Shocking And Disturbing Development Of Your Personal Security

Most Americans  do not know that a commercial copier  keeps digital copies that may stay stored on the internal hard drive for several mounts, or even longer.

Related story:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/the-truth-about-copier-hard-drives-tips-for-securing-your-data/

If threats as real as they say, you privacy is more likely to be lost from something that your PC.  -
It is the copier used by your lawyer.

[Helpmeh]

I read an article on this topic back in 2010 or 2009, and the article specifically mentioned that schools were at particular risk (or something like that), so I forwarded it off to my principle. Oddly enough, he was at a conference that day where this was a topic.

[Salmon Trout]

I read an article on this topic back in 2010 or 2009

This may be a new notion to the OP, but not, I think, to people who have to deal with office equipment. I read a report in 2005, when my employers were discussing the security implications of leasing copy/print/scan stations which had hard drives. We have gone through 3 generations of equipment since then, and even though there is a wipe drive option in the service menus, we stipulate that we keep the hard drive when a machine is removed from site, and we have people to make sure this happens. Then we get them securely destroyed.

[BC_Programmer]

This may be a new notion to the OP, but not, I think, to people who have to deal with office equipment. I read a report in 2005, when my employers were discussing the security implications of leasing copy/print/scan stations which had hard drives. We have gone through 3 generations of equipment since then, and even though there is a wipe drive option in the service menus, we stipulate that we keep the hard drive when a machine is removed from site, and we have people to make sure this happens. Then we get them securely destroyed.

I do like the implication in articles and posts like Geek-9pm's that somehow IT staff are immensely ignorant about the very technology for which they have professional experience. Pretty much any competent tech is going to be well aware that copy machines have hard drives and take the appropriate security precautions as with the hard drive in any company PC.