With so much attention on Internet and email security, it’s easy to forget other forms of communication have vulnerabilities too.
The transmission report that’s automatically generated by a fax machine after a document has been sent could unintentionally allow others to see a sender’s information, according to the Postal Service™ Corporate Information Security Office (CISO).
The report indicates whether a fax was successfully transmitted. If the sender doesn’t add a cover sheet, the report often automatically includes the first page of the outgoing document. Documents that contain sensitive postal or personal information — such as Social Security numbers and financial statements — could be read by anyone if the transmission report isn’t collected by the sender.
As a precaution, CISO recommends taking the extra step of always including a cover sheet before faxing sensitive postal or personal documents.
Computer misuse. All employees, contractors and business partners on the Postal Service computer network must report any type of computer abuse — including theft, loss of data, computer security-related incidents, repetitive chain emails, Point of Service (POS) issues, phishing, and social media scams — to the Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT). Call 866-877-7247 or email uspscirt@usps.gov or Abuse@usps.gov.
— Corporate Information Security Office,
Chief Information Officer, 9-4-14
