Print security means business security: protecting data across the physical-digital boundary

The digital perimeter of businesses is continuing to expand and constantly evolve in line with working patterns and behaviors.

Employees are now accessing business systems with increased flexibility, making visibility a key issue as data moves beyond traditional security perimeters and spreads across all kinds of personal devices.

As a result, data is more at risk than ever before.

This shift means that security needs to be strengthened across every single point in a company’s infrastructure. Print, which may not seem like a threat, is often still overlooked in this picture, with 56% of businesses reporting at least one data loss through printers last year.

While cybersecurity is becoming increasingly sophisticated, one principle remains: it only takes one weak link for attackers to access an entire system.

To ensure that weakness is not print, businesses need to elevate their role, prioritize the right hardware and software that works together intuitively and not lose sight of how it fits into the bigger picture.

Only then can organizations provide enhanced visibility, control, and most importantly peace of mind to IT security teams when they need it most.

An open door for hackers

Printers are a hub in the flow of information through a business, but they’re also endpoints - individual devices that can serve as entry points for malicious actors.

Not securing your print infrastructure is the business equivalent of leaving your back door wide open. It’s through these open doors that hackers can be seen to gain traction.

Today, an increasing number of printers are able to connect to the internet – whilst research has found that 28% of businesses continue to see securing printing in a remote environment as their biggest security challenge.

With only 37% of ITDMs reporting having already implemented a zero-trust architecture there is clearly work to be done to give organization complete confidence in the security of their print infrastructure.

Printers are also unique in the sense that they sit between the physical and digital world. When information changes medium there is an elevated security risk as it crosses multiple potential points of interception.

That’s why they must be a fortress for data, acting as a strong line of defense to protect system access and ensure holistic information security.

Keep watch on your perimeter

Perimeter security remains one the biggest challenges that organizations face, yet the impact this has is vast. If you can’t effectively track the safety of data across systems, it’s difficult to apply the right security measures or optimize resources. Without clear visibility into where data lives and who can access it, security strategies are incomplete.

With more endpoints to monitor and data moving more easily between networks and devices, vulnerabilities are becoming harder to identify. The goal posts for security teams are constantly shifting, as upcoming regulations such as the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act, increase the reporting requirements for businesses.

As a result, an increasing amount of time is being dedicated to meeting the visibility challenge.

AI is supercharging what’s possible in this regard. Instead of IT teams needing to have eyes everywhere, AI and machine learning can be used to constantly assess the network your printer sits in and configure optimal settings across your print infrastructure.

Not only does this free up IT team capacity by streamlining system monitoring to rapidly spot and remedy vulnerabilities, but it also future-proofs systems to enable continued system expansion.

With so many emerging and evolving threats to keep on top of – security teams want print working for them, not against them. AI presents an opportunity to alleviate pressure and ensure proactive and robust perimeter security.

Adopt a multi-layered defense

A resilient security strategy must be layered. Only when we consider the whole picture, and how hardware and software work seamlessly together across the entire business system, can a multi-layered defense be achieved.

For example, in print while integrating badge-based printer access is an essential ingredient for ensuring all data entering print systems is only seen by the right people, it only goes so far.

Cross referencing data with system login activity is essential to successfully identifying potential risks. This confirms that the employee is at that location at the time they supposedly accessed the printer.

This location data makes multi-factor authentication (MFA) more intelligent, providing an additional layer of protection against compromised credentials.

This approach transforms printer key authentication from a tool which is convenient to print users, into a wider security measure which enhances the broader perimeter security of the business.

A strong print security posture, when integrated into systems to harness wider business data in an intelligent way, can bolster an organization's overall security and ensure only the right people can access or distribute sensitive information.

Fortify your security, with print

Print is a critical part of the cybersecurity picture – one that sits right on the boundary between the digital and physical worlds. With endpoints multiplying and threats evolving, businesses can’t afford blind spots.

Ignoring print security leaves the entire business exposed to cybercriminals searching for a weak link. By treating print as a core part of your perimeter strategy, you will close off a tried and tested route by attackers. Print security means business security.

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