Protect your printers against cyber attacks
A recent high profile data breach at international credit bureau TransUnion left 54-million South Africans exposed and once again highlighted how cybercriminals are employing ever-more ingenious ways to access networks. As Kyocera partners, it’s important to constantly remind our customers to employ the correct print strategy to deter cybercriminals from using printers as easy access points.
As Martin Fairman, Group Sales & Marketing Director at KYOCERA Document Solutions UK points out in this article: “While most businesses do well when it comes to protecting core IT infrastructure including computers, servers and applications, they do often fall short when it comes to secondary assets such as multifunction printers (MFPs). With cybercriminals constantly circling and searching for different ways to infiltrate a company’s network, unsecured connected printers can be a key point of weakness leading to a major breach.”
Added to this, the rise of remote work, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, means that more printers are connected to corporate networks and public internet. The nature of a wireless or internet-connected printer provides, in theory, a back door for hackers to break into a network and infect critical systems. Further, when remote workers print business documents from personal printers, they don’t always have access to secure shredding services, meaning confidential information could be inadvertently leaked.
All of this leaves businesses vulnerable to long-term business disruption, reputational damage, revenue loss and failure to comply with POPIA.
So, what can organisations do to put the necessary protections in place?
To mitigate risk, it’s important to create resilient security from the ground up, which means ensuring that every element of the network is hardened against attack and protected by multiple layers of security.
- Employees should be up to speed and make use of the latest anti-virus and anti-phishing software installed on all endpoint devices, including MFPs, as a reliable first line of defence against potential cyberattacks. It’s also important to train employees to recognise malicious emails or attachments.
- Print management software should be installed to provide employees with access to secure document release capabilities, as well as that all data is encrypted from end to end.
By taking steps to improve their print security and creating awareness among employees of how cybercriminals can access networks through unsecured print networks, businesses stand a better chance at mitigating risk and keeping cybercriminals at bay, regardless of whether their workforce is remote, or office based.
We’re excited to announce that our new Hardware Product Manager – Yena Ngidi has joined the Kyocera SA team. Yena will serve as our subject matter expert for all items related to our printers and MFP’s, and this will take shape by delivering training and serving as a resource to our partner network. Yena comes with a wealth of experience in the printing and IT industries, which will undoubtedly strengthen the KDZA product team, helping us deliver better value to our partner network.
Greg Griffith - Senior Product Manager - KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa
