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Why your office printer might be a security risk

When you think about where the security threats are within your office, you probably think immediately about your computers or phones. However, your printer could be just as harmful.

Not including your printer in your cyber security strategy could be a major risk for your business. Here are some of the main concerns:

 

Data theft

Forget network hackers, have you ever printed something off and forgotten to take it out of the document tray? Any paper not immediately secured can easily be swiped from the printer by anyone in the office. It’s even more risky if you’re using a public printer in a shared working space – that means it’s anyone’s game if you leave it there.

 

Printer attacks

Hackers getting into your printer, is not something you’d expect and most of the time they can do this undetected. From bringing the system to a halt with phony print jobs to using the device in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, hackers can exploit printers to wreak major havoc on your company resources.

 

Data breaches

If you didn’t know your printer stored information, then you do now. Emails, phone numbers, customer data, and confidential documents are regularly stored in printer caches. Left unguarded, this info is easy pickings for cyber criminals armed with the simplest of tools.

 

Wireless printing

Wireless printing opens up even more access points for attackers. With Wi-Fi, an attacker can carry out proximity attacks like getting the printer to connect to a malicious network and then execute harmful code, while being nowhere near your office.

 

So what can you do to protect your printers? Here are some suggestions from our experts:

1 – Encrypt your hard drive

If hackers are determined to breach your network, a password won’t stop them. Encrypting the printers hard drive adds an additional layer of security and ensures that data is not only safe during transmission across the network but also while the printer is not being used.

 

2 – Add authentication

Do not allow just anyone to use your printer. Authorisation systems should be in place so that unauthorised persons cannot access your print queues or send harmful files to your device. You may want to purchase a printer that requires users to input a unique pin, scan their ID card or even use a fingerprint. If your printer doesn’t support this, ask your IT provider if there is a way to authorise users through their email or perhaps multiple passwords.

 

3 – Change passwords regularly

When you receive your printing equipment, it’s likely you’ll get a default password set up with it. It’s good practice to change this immediately and keep changing every so often to make sure the code doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

 

4 – Keep all printers up to date

A firmware update is software related to your printer’s functionality. Printer manufacturers typically release these every few months, like Apple does as patches for iPhones. These can be implemented manually on your printer display screen or set to update automatically. However you do update it, just make sure that you do, to reduce the likelihood of any hackers being able to find holes in your security systems.

 

5 – Watch your printers

Believe it or not, the most common security mistakes are down to human error. As we mentioned above, documents forgotten about on the printer could contain valuable data and this can be easy to get hold of for cyber criminals particularly if there is a relaxed attitude to security in your office. Keep an eye out when you or your colleagues are printing – stand next to it and wait if you need to!

 

6 – Disable printer features that you do not need

Basic printers and multifunctional ones have many useful features, but some you may not need in the day to day running of your office. These functions have processes that constantly need to run in case they are triggered which ultimately gives hackers more entry points for potential and opportunity to cause a data breach. It’s a worth disabling any unnecessary functions you don’t need to ensure you are kept secure.

 

And when you sell your printer or the lease ends, you need to ensure the data on the hard drive doesn’t leave your office. We recommend disposing of it yourself or asking your IT provider to.

Data breaches continue to affect businesses in the UK, so now’s the time to take extra measures to ensure your company and client data is safe – wherever it’s located.

If you’d like to chat further about how to keep your office hardware secure, please get in touch with our experts at info@auratechnology.com.