{"id":43882,"date":"2019-12-03T12:01:30","date_gmt":"2019-12-03T12:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/?p=43882"},"modified":"2019-12-11T10:18:39","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T10:18:39","slug":"can-printers-be-a-security-solution-or-are-they-just-another-point-of-vulnerability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/2019\/12\/03\/can-printers-be-a-security-solution-or-are-they-just-another-point-of-vulnerability\/","title":{"rendered":"Can printers be a security solution or are they a point of vulnerability?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

David Barnes, Head of Regional Printing Product Management and Business Development, EMEA, Zebra Technologies, says it is vital organisations implement printers that can support staff to maintain the most up-to-date security protocols, making it easy to remotely manage, troubleshoot and configure fleets of printers from a single location.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s digital age, everything from\ncoffee makers to cars are now vulnerable to hacks. It may be surprising how a\nprinter – with a main output of sensitive data – could be seen as a security\nsolution, rather than being simply a device protected against security threats.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent global printing study from Smithers found that printing volumes for businesses are forecast to run 49.5 trillion sheets between 2019 and 2024. These businesses include hospitals, factories, grocery stores and warehouses where people are coming and going all the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not unusual for workplaces such as\nthese to have papers lying around to be easily seen, such as inventory and\npricing lists, personnel or sensitive customer and patient information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to imagine that you might print\nsomething that contains sensitive data on a printer accessible to everyone in\nthe office and then it might take a few minutes to retrieve those papers. Perhaps\na colleague stops you for a chat on the way to the printer. Or you might want\nto submit multiple print jobs at once, meaning you are still sitting at a desk\ninitiating those requests while the papers – full of sensitive data – are\nsitting in the printer tray. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone within the building could walk up\nand take those pages off the printer. Assuming the papers were picked up by\naccident, most people might not put them back or try to track down the owner\nand might potentially discard them in an open trash bin without giving any\nattention to their sensitive nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard to predict, much less completely\ncontrol, how people are going to handle printed sources of sensitive\ninformation, whether it is a piece of paper, an ID or credit card, a RFID label\nor a patient ID wristband. Even if you implement strict policies governing\nworkers\u2019 retrieval and handling of printed assets, it\u2019s unfair to assume that\nthose processes will be followed with 100% precision every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, isn\u2019t that why we were so eager\nto digitalise everything, to try gaining better control over data access and\nsecurity? On the other hand, we shouldn\u2019t ditch printers and revert to simply\nhandwriting everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Printers: A security risk or asset?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today\u2019s world, printers don\u2019t just print paper. They also print the RFID tags that are used\nto track valuable assets as they move across each supply chain touchpoint. They\nprint the barcoded labels that are critical to inventory management and loss\nprevention \u2013 and the shipping labels that improve accountability and\ntraceability as packages speed from a warehouse shelf to your front door. They\nprint access cards, ID cards, credit cards and many other valuables that we need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organisations are prone to countless points of vulnerability every day. All businesses should make a concerted\neffort to identify the threats and take measured steps to mitigate them. More\noften than not, the focus is on the cybersecurity climate. Businesses must\nlearn from the past and carefully assess current threats to anticipate and\nprotect against new tactics that someone might use to breach a network broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With an increasing number and severity of\ndata breaches, businesses should not have to worry about\nsecurity when adding a new device or printer to their networks. Whether in a wired or wireless fashion,\nevery device they connect should have mechanisms built in to help prevent,\ndetect and fortify against cyberattacks such as a data breach or denial of\nservice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Printers are no exception. Since they are\ncapable of transmitting sensitive data across a network that, if not secure,\ncould be accessible to unauthorised parties, printers could be a cyber-target.\nThat is why it is so critical to assign security controls to printers\nspecifically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implementing the right software<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are printers out there that have several new features that make it easier for customers to configure their printers to use secure connections, block unwanted access and ensure that data and infrastructure are protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zebra security assessment tools and\nfeatures such as protected setting modes are now available to ensure that only\nauthenticated changes can be made, allowing users to block unintended printer\nsoftware updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security for printers is becoming so prevalent that it is vital organisations implement printers that can support the staff to maintain the most up-to-date security protocols, making it easy to remotely manage, troubleshoot and configure fleets of printers from a single location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For any business looking to implement new\nprinters in the workplace, it\u2019s important to make sure that any printer you\nselect, especially one that claims to be a secure printing solution, was\ndeveloped in alignment with the guidelines and best practices established by\nglobally recognised security organisations, including ISO and the National\nInstitute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should also refer to the printer administration\nguide frequently. Most look at it during the printer configuration process but\nwill never look at it again. However, it can be an invaluable resource for\nunderstanding and applying the proper security-related settings on the printer\nas well as best practices for printer security. It\u2019s really up to organisations\n\u2013 or their IT administrator to install certain cybersecurity tools and ensure\nthose tools are being fully utilised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cybersecurity climate is unstable. New\nthreats are emerging every day and you have to adjust for those just as you\nwould adjust your other network settings on occasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Barnes, Head of Regional Printing Product Management and Business Development, EMEA, Zebra Technologies, says it is vital organisations implement printers that can support staff to maintain the most up-to-date security protocols, making it easy to remotely manage, troubleshoot and configure fleets of printers from a single location. In today\u2019s digital age, everything from coffee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":43883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[829,517,809,3629,79],"tags":[1530,10773,912,886,5205,6825],"class_list":["post-43882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-choice","category-hardware","category-more-news","category-newsletter","category-used","tag-cybersecurity","tag-david-barnes","tag-printers","tag-printing","tag-security","tag-zebra"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43882"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44003,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43882\/revisions\/44003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}