5 Things You Should Know About Print Security

1. Cyberattackers are on the prowl — and your business is a target.

If you have a business network, hackers and cybercriminals want access to it. They know you have valuable proprietary secrets. They know you have employee Social Security numbers they can sell to identity thieves. They bet that if they hold your network hostage, you might be tempted to pay their ransom. Some don’t want money or information — they just like to vandalize your servers and cause chaos. Lists of vulnerable companies are traded on the Dark Web, and bots are pinging random servers, looking for easy marks.

2. You can’t predict where they’ll strike.

There are dozens of possible attack vectors for hackers to choose. For example, it could be a portable or mobile device your client uses to connect with your business. Spoof emails can contain malicious attachments that might slip through antivirus software. Your server firewalls may have an unseen hole in their defenses. A device connected to your office network may never have had its default password changed. Or maybe a web application you trust was exploited and infected.

3. Printers are a pushover.

Your network printers may look innocent, but they are among the most easily exploited devices in business today. Print jobs are sent to printers constantly, and they are connected to your company WLAN and your employees. And that’s connected to the Internet and your customers. This alone makes them a prime cyberattack vector. Unfortunately, breaking into unsecured printers is so simple that even fledgling hackers can do it.

4. You can’t afford to be complacent.

A recent survey found that only 16% of IT industry respondents think printers are at high risk of a security breach[1]. One of the reasons for this complacency about print security is that IT teams are typically focused on protecting other endpoints, like desktop PCs and mobile devices. But the potential impact of printer-based intrusions shouldn’t be ignored. A single unsecured printer could leave your entire network of connected devices vulnerable to attack, which can have dire business consequences.

5. Take control with HP Print Security Solutions.

Start safeguarding your business now with the world’s most secure printing from HP[2]. As an HP Silver Partner, Yeo & Yeo Technology can show you how HP printers protect five key areas of printer vulnerability:

• HP Sure Start — A secure boot process that validates the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). If it detects a corrupter version, it replaces it with a hardware-protected copy.
• HP secure whitelisting — Validates firmware and notifies IT of any issues.
• HP Runtime Intrusion Detection — Monitors devices and halts operations for reboot if malware is detected.
• Intuitive Policy Editor— Continuous assurance of security policy settings helps correct non-compliant devices.
• Security information and event management system — Real-time threat detection and analysis protect data in transit.

Contact the IT specialists at Yeo & Yeo Technology, an HP Silver Partner, today at (800) 607-1446 for details about the advantages secure HP printers can bring to your organization. Or check out the new infographic, “Defending the Digital Workplace with Print Security.” 

[2] Based on HP review of 2016 published security features of competitive in-class printers.

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