Printing Device Security
In a world where cybersecurity threats are harmful to all devices, not just PCs, servers, or networks, printing devices need specific countermeasures for secure printing and protection against various threats. Luckily, there is technology making it possible. Print security is essential to protect documents and restrict access to anyone outside your organization.
“This printer has been hacked” is a message example that began spreading ominously. The victims are often businesses of all sizes, most of which have never looked for ways to protect their external network devices. However, an incident like a compromised printer can serve as a much-needed wake-up call, pointing to a problem commonly ignored in many workplaces. Those who don’t may learn the hard way that attacks are spreading and targeting more than just laptops and PCs should consider a proper action plan for data security on their printers or outsourcing this to print security service specialists.
To secure printers against unauthorized access, print configuration alternations, or device compromise, you need to follow certain printing device security best practices, which we list below.
Secure Printing - Best Practices
In every company, employees manage vast amounts of information – and a lot of that data is eventually needed on print, which is an ability of the printer. This device is essential for printing any documents that are scanned or ones that are downloaded from the Internet. Without proper security, however, the data kept on a device like a printer runs a high risk of falling into unauthorized hands.
Foundational security features are measures that every organization should implement for optimal print security. With them, your print jobs will follow the needed security features to protect sensitive documents or sensitive information in any way. In this group, we have the following print security features:
- Authentication
- Access control
- Secure print release
- Find-Me printing
- Print log auditing
- Behavior reports
Advanced Security Features - Printing Device Security
The features listed below ensure protection against common vulnerabilities before, during, and after the printing process. A lot can be compromised if your printing access gets into the wrong hands, so you need to set up more processes than just passwords on your network of printers. This would keep hackers from accessing your printers and other devices such as hard drives, external computer network devices, etc. These will further protect your office printers against a security breach, ensuring a secure print job every time. Many printers have these enabled on their network, and the common criteria are as follows:
- Access Policies
- Behavior alerts
- Encryption
- Card authentication
- 2FA (two-factor) authentication
- Device error handling
- Watermarking
- Digital signatures
- Archiving
Network Printer Security & Secure Printing In Detail
We know that print security might be a boring topic to many. Still, when it comes to your connected printers and systems, you must understand the best ways to prevent data loss or compromise of your business devices and other systems.
In order to utilize the secure printing function, the users enter a password by going into the printer driver’s properties before processing the function that the device needs to execute. Then, rather than printing automatically, the user will print the document stored on the printer until the same password is entered. This will ensure that the only person that can print documents is a user within the organization. The feature usually requires a hard disk drive (HDD).
Secure printing is a specialized safety and security feature that mitigates risk, securing your device network and preventing access to hackers. It allows users to print documents successfully without letting any third-party members connect to the printer network. As such, it is essential for business operations.
Start Protecting Your Sensitive Data Today – Contact Us To Get Your Free Security Consultation
If you are scanning and printing documents regularly as part of your business, you certainly need protection on your devices.
A proper security policy is essential for optimal printer security. The consequences might be fatal, mostly seen in the form of unprotected files, copied work, data that is distributed to competitor companies, or data that is sold elsewhere.
At TGI, we specialize in data security and are your number-one choice for data protection services. Our network printer security services will do everything to protect your multifunction printers, setting a default password that you can use internally whenever you need to print a specific file.
To receive your free security consultation, fill out our online form or contact a sales representative at 1-866-468-4462.