When users print, copy or scan documents, they’re often entrusting confidential or sensitive information to their organisation’s print infrastructure. But if the act of printing, and the devices themselves, aren’t secured, that information can be put at risk.
Protect data by identifying users
For many organisations, an optimised fleet of multifunctional printers (MFPs) makes sense: it’s generally economically attractive, and allows a large number of users access to advanced features. But the fact that those devices are often located in communal areas and shared by multiple users raises the risk of documents falling into the wrong hands, whether by design or by mistake. Indeed.
Organisations can guard against this risk by implementing a secure (or ‘follow me’) printing solution. This requires users to identify themselves at the device — using their employee ID card, for example — to release the print job. (As an added bonus, secure printing helps reduces wasted print, too.) Traditionally, secure printing solutions have been installed on premises, but they’re now moving to the cloud, which allows greater flexibility and scalability.
Make the most of your devices’ security features
As well as implementing secure printing and monitoring solutions for your print infrastructure, it’s well worth checking what security features are built into your printers and MFPs, and whether they’ve been activated.
To protect the document data stored on the device’s internal hard drive, look for data encryption and overwriting capabilities, as well as time-limited storage features. You may also be able to encrypt and/or password-protect the hard drive itself, so that if the drive or the entire device falls into the wrong hands, any data stored on it remains secure and inaccessible.
