Why your business needs Secure Printing
Overview
Why do offices & remote workers need secure printing?
Technology that enables secure printing is so essential particularly in the post pandemic world we all find ourselves working in. Our office printer scans, copies and transmits valuable data daily and if you use a multifunctional device (an MFD), with vast capabilities and functions, they are already supporting your business with their incredible efficiency and productivity.
Cyber security and Cloud security has become an increasing concern for businesses over the years, but even more so since employees were forced to work remotely, and now work in a multitude of locations, either being in the office, at home or other remote locations. Sophisticated cyber-attacks have increased considerably and all too often the risks associated with this are often forgotten with these IoT devices.
A notable cyber-attack occurred when 150,000 printers were hacked by Stackoverflowin. Thankfully, this was just for fun, but the aim was to highlight how vulnerable printers connected to the internet are, however on a serious note, this attack indicated just how possible it is for a cyber-attack to occur through your printers. Once access is secured, the potential destruction is huge – from accessing the data stored on your printer, to DDoS (distributed denial-of-service).
However, another security concern are paper documents left on your printers by your own staff. Its all too easy to set something to print and then not pick them up and these can be intercepted by hackers who have gained access to your office.
Therefore, you need to secure your printing environment to ensure your documents and sensitive data are protected.
60% of businesses in the United Kingdom, United States, France, and Germany suffered a print-related data breach in the last year, which resulted in a data loss that cost companies an average of more than $400,000. This data was identified in Quocirca’s latest Global Print Security Landscape report, which identified that as well as legacy printers, new, more sophisticated Printers posed a huge threat.
What is secure printing?
Secure printing is a set of specific standards that prevent any unauthorised access to your printing environment either through the network or your devices. The tools and software protect access levels and restrict printing access to those with permissions to use them.
What are the benefits of secure printing in today’s workplace?
We’ve all been there – we print a sensitive document and become distracted and then forget we ever printed it. Hackers are finding ever increasing ways of accessing your sensitive information and this small, seemingly insignificant slip, considerably increasing the chances of the document ending up in the wrong hands.
How do I securely print a document?
There are a number of key security measures you should implement to ensure you are printing securely.
By embedding software designed by 
you are able to access all security features through most display screens on the printer.
This provides you with many features including:
- Find Me Printing: This enables any prints to be held in a cue and for the author to release the print job securely at a device of their choice. This is a personalised card for each user.
- Two-factor authentication: Add in another layer of security by enabling two-factor authentication via a pin inserted at the device to release the print out.
- Implement Print logging: Obtain visibility of who is printing what, where and when so that you can monitor your printing security.
Our secure printing solution
Data Encryption
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Whether you have a printer or a multifunctional device (MFD), consider how many files are copied, printed and scanned throughout your working week. So, there is a huge amount of your business data being stored on your device, much of which is highly confidential to your business.
Data encryption is the process where your documents are encoded and only those with the correct authorisation can decode the information again. MFD’s can encrypt file stored on their hard drive meaning that if this is stolen then your data remains safe. Also, with encryption or at least password protection, your sensitive data remains safe from being viewed by the wrong people.
How often do you print a document and then become distracted, and these are left on the printer, and these can be intercepted maliciously or accidentally.
If you implement Follow Me Printing, it means that no document is released without user authentication first. This could include pin codes, passwords and key cards that you can utilise as office access. There are also options with Follow Me Printing, to create Access Control Restrictions for individual users, which places rules on what each user can do with a printed document.
Follow Me Printing
Audit Trail
By implementing audit trails, you obtain complete visibility over the usage from your printer. Not only does this provide you with information on any potential security issues, but this information can support your ESG Policy by understanding the amount that is printed and help with any policies on printing.
If you have secure print software, you can create alerts that notify you of any leak, or data breach from one of your network printers. This provides your business with full transparency and accountability of your document workflows.
Secure remote printing
More now than ever, it is imperative that you provide your mobile teams with all the solutions and protection to perform their role efficiently and productivity.
Secure Printing software provides your business and its teams, the confidence that you need that your printing environment is protected and has controls in place.
Many organisations require their remote teams to send documents to print on office infrastructure but are concerned about potential security issues. Print management software can provide the control and protection you need to enable remote printing with confidence.
As we mentioned previously, Follow Me or Pull Printing secures documents in a virtual queue prior to release. From an agile working point of view, this allows your remote workers to automatically print their documents on their next visit to the office, or to nominate a trusted delegate to safely print and collect their documents. Users can submit documents from any PC, mobile or tablet device.
benefits
Why Use This Service?
Simplicity
Reduce your waste and support the environment by simplifying your printing processes. Espria can support you in reviewing the environmental impact of your printing operations. We can draw up policies that give your teams clarity on how to reduce the carbon footprint of printing.
MANAGED PRINT SERVICES
Case Studies
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