Why would physical copies of classified documents need to be retained when high speed scanners can create digital copies that are much easier to hide?

Question

Why would physical copies of classified documents need to be retained when high speed scanners can create digital copies that are much easier to hide?

In: 1

Answer 1

My understanding as a lay person is that a lot of classified material is never digitalized at all, in order to avoid hacking attempts.

If document X is stored in a highly secure location, like the national archives, and the staff never makes a physical or digital copy, the document can never be secretly stolen or copied. Sure, the physical document could be stolen, but it would be extremely obvious who did the stealing, especially when an empty file folder is left behind in a secured room in a secure facility.

OTOH, a digital file can stolen remotely without affecting the original file. Not only does this mean that technically anyone (with sufficient tech ability/equipment) could steal it, but it would be much harder to figure out that the system had been breached and the document stolen.