The news about breaching the company policies and losing the customer or client due to negligence are very frequently heard these days. Hence, in a working environment at the office, it is extremely vital to have a security plan for the printed documents in place.
Every device in the office that is on or accesses the network is vulnerable. There should be tight control over the physically printed documents. You as the business owner are at risk if the security is not planned for the printer and the printed documents.
When a survey was conducted, when most of the companies vouched for overall security, more than 50% felt the need to have printer security in place. Let us check how the printer security can be set up.
With the chances of higher printer vulnerability and infection levels higher with malware, there should be some secure printer policy in place to follow.
Hence to address the security issues, finding the right solution is worth the time and expense. The studies show that the secured printer is six times less vulnerable to security breaches compared to the unprotected devices. Let us see how this is achieved –
Here are steps that should be followed to ensure the best protection of your printers at the office.
- Encrypt – Encrypt all data that is sent to the printer at the office.
- Next, Erase – All data should be regularly erased from printer hard drives. This can be either done automatically or manually by the staff.
- Authenticate – Ensure to limit access granted to the staff. Along with the limited access, monitor the use of documents through passwords and PIN numbers. This is another way of data protection.
- Control – Try to install pull printing by using the PIN number or other identifier each time print is done from the office device. Pull printing helps in reducing unclaimed jobs and is the proper method to identify who took the printouts.
- Update – Always ensureto keep firmware and security updates current and confirmed as legitimate. Updating the system and printer software helps in reducing the misuse of the essential documents
- Manage – There is different software that helps to manage devices, access and compliance. It is important to use the software management technique.
An unprotected printer is an entryway for criminals to steal important documentation and use it inappropriately against you, your staff, customer or clients. Always ensure to have the printer security set at the same level as the rest of the network at the office. Check the photocopier that uses the security features with the embedded antivirus scan engine to safeguard your documents.
