There has been a great deal of attention recently regarding the storage of sensitive information on computers. Social Security Numbers are being removed as identifiers in systems throughout campus and exposure of those numbers is being reduced to those uses that are required by law. There are two areas that are frequently overlooked when it comes to sensitive information: voice mail and fax machines.

When you leave a voice mail message, do you really know who is going to listen to that message? Are you sure you dialed the correct number? Will the recipient of the message listen to your message with the speaker phone turned on? Does your recipient share a phone or their voice mail password with others? If you need to share sensitive information over the telephone, wait until you are speaking directly to a person and are satisfied that it is the appropriate person to receive the information.

Fax machines are another risk that needs to be considered. What do you know about the fax machine on the receiving end? Will strangers be able to look through incoming messages and read yours? Does your fax machine or the other fax machine store copies of the transmitted documents? Some fax machines double as Web servers and received faxes can be accessed over the network. How well protected is that server?

To ensure the highest security for your private or sensitive information, you should avoid transmitting it through voice mail and fax machines.