EPC’s Computer Recyling Blog

The Downside of Upgrading – Or why should I pay for computer recycling?

In a recent blog post on Blue Planet Green Living entitled Computer Recycling – The Downside of Upgrading, Caryn Green discusses many of the hurdles we face as an electronics recycler. She does a good job of highlighting the major issues – overseas dumping, identity theft and data privacy, organized crime elements, and the environmental impact. However, even with all those potential issues, we still run into potential clients that say “I will not pay for electronic recycling!” More »

Computer Recycling Put Inmates, Staff at Risk

Federal prisoners and prison staff members were exposed to toxic levels of heavy metals for years, says a new report from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. More »

Another Internet Explorer Vulnerability (…sigh)

Well, here we are again. A few weeks after Microsoft pushed out a critical patch to all versions of Internet Explorer, Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina, a security consultant with Core Security Technologies provided details of another attack against the beleaguered browser. This time, an attacker “may be able to access files with an already known file name and location.” If that sounds a bit scary, it should. It falls into a class of attacks called “Local File Disclosure”  and can be exploited by sending the victim to a malicious site at attempts to access files stored on your computer. The attacks leverage different design features of Internet Explorer that can be combined to do serious damage. Secunia has rated this as “Moderately critical” More »

5 Weirdest Returns to EPC, Inc. – Part 1

EPC, Inc. has been fortunate enough to become a juggernaut in the IT Asset Recovery business and our reputation as one of the best solutions for end-of-life IT equipment continues to grow.

Those of you that consider “IT equipment” computers, printers, servers and more – you’re absolutely right. The vast majority of equipment returned falls into these categories, but you may be surprised what makes its way back to EPC.

First, a bit of background. EPC, Inc. is owned by CSI Leasing, one of the world’s largest IT lessors that provide leased equipment around the globe. Companies will receive, for example, 2,200 new computer systems, and the now off-lease equipment is acquired by EPC, Inc. and sold to schools, businesses, people in our 5,500 sq ft retail showroom – anyone that wants to save money. This “IT Equipment received back off-lease also includes some items you’d have never thought would grace the halls EPC.

Not only does this first of many listings of “weird returns to EPC, Inc.” make for an interesting read, it’s also a great way for those looking for the “out of the ordinary” to find solutions thanks to EPC, Inc.

5.) Medical Centrifuge: Centrifuges are machines that rapidly spin fluids to separate substances of different densities by using centrifugal force to produce a form of artificial gravity. They come in from medical companies of all kinds when medical equipment is upgraded.

4.) X-ray Machine: Yes, those machines that you see inside of hospitals, medical clinics and dentists office across the nation that are taking pictures of bones, screws, metal plates and foreign objects eventually make their way into EPC, Inc.

More »

10 Tips for Protecting Business Data

In honor of Data Privacy Day (January 28), Cintas published 10 tips for protecting confidential business data. This list is a good starting point to creating your own data security program. I will list the tips below with additional recommendations on each. Many of these tips are written with paper documents in mind, but nearly all apply to digital storage as well. To see the see the original list, see Cintas’ site.

1. Implement a document management program. This falls in the category of “identify your treasures.” Make a list of the different types of documents you need to keep – invoices, receipts, contracts, etc. Next determine who needs access to these documents in order to do their job. Identify security measures needed to maintain privacy of the data. Lastly, train all employees on responsible information-handling. Many certifications like PCI and Red Flag require this secure document management training to be compliant. More »