Author: Brother Gulf

Many businesses understand the importance of data security and have a robust IT strategy to protect business-sensitive information. However, print can often be overlooked.

Servers provide access-controlled storage. Computers, laptop and tablets are encrypted with passwords.  Individual files or databases may also have an extra layer of security. But what happens when sensitive information goes to print?

Once you have gained access to confidential documents, they are sent to a printer which is often not as secure as the rest of your IT network. This is where they could potentially be intercepted. Thankfully, there are a few simple solutions to help prevent information from falling into the wrong hands.

Start by reading our simple 4-point guide to boosting your print document security:

1. Keep track of your print

The first step to making your print more secure is to identify any potential risks to your data. To do this, you need to know who is printing what and when. A print management tool can help you do this.

It’s a simple dashboard that helps gives you greater control by helping you monitor usage and costs. From there you can produce reports. This also means you have an audit trail – essential in the event of a security breach, as you can quickly identify what data has been printed or processed.

2. Allow authorised users only

How many of us have been guilty of sending a document to print, moving straight onto another task and forgetting to pick it up from the printer? It’s easy to do.

If that document contains confidential information, that data could be picked up by the wrong person. 

Ask employees to use a PIN or a tap-to-authenticate Near Field Communication (NFC) card to ‘unlock’ the printer. This limits the risk of sensitive material being intercepted. It also reduces print waste.  This is particularly useful in departments like HR, Legal and Finance that handle lots of confidential documents.

3. Lock down resources

For departments where sensitive information is regularly handled, put in place an even higher level of print security.

With some printers, you have the ability to lock all print functions until an authorised user logs in. You can also set specific time limits for document collection, with the printer erasing the data after a set period of time.

This can be set to your needs whether it is a period of hours or even days. With some devices, you can also use Microsoft’s Active Directory or an LDAP authenticated server to manage who can (and can not) access your printers.

4. Secure your scans

Your print security measures shouldn’t be limited to printed documents. You can protect all your scanned documents too as a PDF file with a PIN password or by using a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). Scan to SFTP makes sure all your uploaded scans are 100% protected.

It enables you to send scanned data to yourself or a client as normal, but with an added layer of encryption. That way if they any of your scanned documents are intercepted, the information is still safe and secure.

Email us today at bicgulfsolution@brother.ae about how we can help you manage your printers and the enhanced print security solutions available for your business.

Security is a clear priority for IT professionals. But the role printers play within a network is often overlooked, despite them being an integral part of nearly every company’s infrastructure.

Criminals are increasingly targeting printers as well as other connected devices, from scanners to vending machines, because of their sophistication and functionality.

Research from Quocirca¹ shows that more than one in ten of all security incidents that affect a business involve a printer, 59 per cent of which result in data being lost. Yet according to our research, only a quarter of IT professionals are looking to invest in print security, 75 per cent have never invested in document encryption and 56 per cent are not using user authentication.

This apathy may be in part due to seeing this threat as the preserve of large companies, but that’s no longer the case. Hackers are shifting their focus to the supply chain and smaller firms which might be easier targets and this risk has been accentuated as more people work from home, using devices that may not be subject to the same rigorous security protocols as those in the office.

Update to stay safe

One easy resolution that could save you falling victim to an attack is to make sure you’re using the latest version of the operating software for all your systems.

Hackers are continually seeking out bugs and exploitable weaknesses in software and when these are reported or detected through regular, best-practice checks, developers design a fix which is then sent out as a firmware update.

This is an ongoing battle – just as quickly as developers find solutions to vulnerabilities in devices, hackers find new ways of getting in – and manufacturers are working hard to stay one step ahead to protect their customers from criminals looking get into their systems.

This is why updates are released regularly and it’s vital not to put your networks at risk by ignoring the updates, whether it’s for a server, computer or a printer.

Don’t overlook your printers

If your printing devices have direct communication channels with the internet, they can provide a point of entry into your organization which hackers can use to access your sensitive information. Even if you have the right firewalls in place, there is still a risk.

So, don’t allow your printers and scanners to be a chink in your armour – resolve to always install updates as they land and avoid making your systems an easy target for hackers.

Make sure your printer have the latest firmware update by using our Brother firmware update tool or find out more on how to update your printer or scanner’s firmware here.

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¹Quocirca: https://quocirca.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Quocirca-Print-Security-Feb-2019-Final-Web.pdf