Office printers and multifunction copiers are used in nearly every business environment. What was once a basic piece of technology that existed for the singular purpose of printing text to paper now serves as a multi-functional tool, connected to a technological ecosystem within a vast network. Many decision-makers have the perception that if their network is secure from outside threats, their printers are as well. The reality is that attacks and private information leaks, both past and present, have proven this to be false.
You may be wondering, how can I protect my printers when my IT team is stretched so thin? We will unpack how to solve this challenge without stretching internal resources further.
Threats to Print Devices and Your Network
Unprotected printers in office and work-from-home environments create vulnerabilities to your network and proprietary information. Whether it’s a USB drive filled with malware or something more innocent like sensitive information sent to the wrong printer and left unattended, printers continue to be a risk for organizations. Common network threats posed by printers include:
- Outdated firmware, exposing your network to malware
- Lack of secure print release options
- Legacy factory default passwords
Even the FBI is warning of potential printer attacks on Internet of Things devices and specifically mentions “printers, extenders, and network-attached storage devices” in an announcement just last year.
So why do 64% of businesses have outdated firmware?
Challenges Related to Protecting Print Devices on Your Network
As a leader, if you understand the threat, you understand the need to mitigate the threat. But understanding the need is just the first step. Many IT leaders are strapped for resources, and the result becomes project delays or corners cut.
Simply put, there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, and updating your printer firmware or implementing more secure protocols are time-consuming, manual tasks. We tell ourselves it will be ok, because as long as our network is secure from outside threats, our print devices should also be fine. But is it worth the risk?
When you’re tasked with important infrastructure projects and your team is already bogged down with daily help desk support, how can you ensure that all of your endpoints remain consistently secure?
RELATED: Common Printer Vulnerabilities
Solutions for Keeping Your Print Devices Secure
Managed print providers, which specialize in print security as part of a broader service offering, alleviate the manual task of keeping printer firmware updated and give valuable time back to IT teams.
One service provider, FlexTG, goes a step further and has developed software that can communicate with any print device brand. This proprietary software speeds up the time it normally takes to complete firmware updates, giving scalable options to large and enterprise companies.
The result? Hardened print devices attached to your network are no longer a vulnerability. But to take it a step further, Follow-Me-Printing protocols should be implemented to ensure errors don’t happen from within.
Think of the scenario of a busy hospital with sensitive patient information being printed routinely, only to have a document sit idle on a paper tray for a few minutes too long. Should that information be picked up by the wrong person, it could cost the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A similar scenario happened to Apple, which resulted in a high-profile lawsuit when a female coworker discovered that potentially thousands of women were being underpaid for the same work as their male counterparts.
The leaked information? Found on a printer’s paper tray within the office.
Follow-Me-Printing avoids this possibility, as print jobs are only released by a keycard at the printer itself. This can be particularly valuable in any administrative department, HR department, legal firm, or anywhere where there are high volumes of foot traffic.
Takeaways
There is indeed a possibility that your print devices could remain unprotected, and you never experience an issue. If you’re a gambler, this might be worth the risk. But it is possible to have your devices managed and protected while still reducing costs (both hard and soft costs).
IT leaders have worked hard to get to where they are in their careers. Now isn’t the time to risk it all when solutions are available today.
Learn more about what you can do to mitigate these real security threats with a print security audit.