Secure Print – Don’t Allow Your Organisation to Become Vulnerable

A study showed that 60% of businesses in the UK, US, France and Germany suffered a print-related breach in 2018. This demonstrates that organisations might not have adapted to the rising printer vulnerabilities as well as they should have and have not adopted secure print strategies.

With printers also being 68% more likely to be the source of an external security breach, it appears the warning signs are not being noticed and standard security practices are not sufficient enough to deal with modern secure print threats.

The result of having an attack on print technology can be a loss of confidential data, or copies of this being saved elsewhere, among many other reputational, financial and business critical damages.

Advanced multi-functional devices (MFDs), which are becoming increasingly used in all organisations, hold an even bigger threat of electronic hacks due to the latest hardware essentially being computers themselves. Their individual hard drives and operating systems are often attached to IT networks, which makes them a prime target for security threats if unprotected by endpoint security.

Achieving Secure Print

There are a variety of ways to make sure that organisations are not leaving their printer fleet vulnerable in this digital age. A few simple steps to achieve secure print in organisations are mentioned below:

Changing Attitudes

Attitudes in organisations towards print security need to change so that it is held at the same level as the security threat to computers or other IT/business systems. Building awareness on GDPR and the consequences of inadequate data protection can help improve the behaviour towards information management and secure print. This can be achieved through effective communication, implementing policies and providing training and awareness to employees.

Pull printing and authentication

Add an additional layer of printer security through introducing “pull printing” to your print management system. This feature enables print jobs to be held on a server which can only be released by the user, ensuring that hardcopy documents are not left unattended or discarded, reducing print waste. This secure print process can be supported through having authentication requirements on all devices, such as using ID and pin cards to release documents. This function will further eliminate security breaches by ensuring no other unauthorised individuals can gain access to the documents.

Monitoring 

One simple way to ensure secure print is carried out is to begin monitoring and managing the print infrastructure. Monitoring what documents are being printed, where they are being printed from, and which users are printing them, will allow the organisation to identify if policies aren’t being followed and spot any suspicious printing activity.

Printer encryption 

Ensure that the printer hard drive is encrypted to prevent any risk of hacks. Hard drives store all information relating to the documents and having these encrypted will simply provide additional protection to prevent any data being accessed or stolen.

Secure print is at the forefront of Apogee’s Managed Print Services to support business growth, while ensuring your data remains confidential and GDPR compliant. Make sure that your organisation is not vulnerable to security threats by contacting us by completing the form below.