Message of the Week 12 - 16 April 2021

Mastering print and document security

Remote working has seen a steady rise over the past year as a result of COVID-19, and it’s a trend that’s likely to remain and grow well beyond the pandemic. While there are many advantages to ‘work from home’, cloud or hybrid work models, it does raise complexity around the administration and security of devices both on and off site. Unfortunately, most businesses were unprepared for a sudden shift in the way we work and have been left exposed to an unprecedented wave of cybersecurity threats.

Data breaches are always bad news for businesses, resulting in downtime costs, fines associated with corporate governance and regulatory compliance, as well as reputational damage. In this regard, print and document infrastructure breaches are no different from other security lapses, and as this blog article points out, companies need to consider the following risks to ensure data security:

• Connection points – remote working considerably increases the number of connection points, with company information being shared across potentially unsafe networks, from which cyber criminals can access information.
• Collaboration – regardless of where they are based, teams need to print, scan and share documents. Businesses need to provide a secure document management system, by migrating to secure cloud software, so that their teams can collaborate effectively.
• Third party threats – when working from an office, it’s unlikely that a non-employee can walk in and rifle through someone’s computer or smartphone, however with remote working from a variety of locations, comes an increased threat of third parties gaining access to confidential documents and information.

Take back the control

Companies need to ensure that their staff are equipped with the necessary tools and knowledge to work flexibly without putting business data at risk.It is critical to maintain control across devices, a task that is made much easier if companies opt for a standardised fleet of printers and multifunction devices (MFPs) for greater control over the security of their data and documents. 

This is an area of strength for Kyocera, and we should alert clients to the fact that even prior to COVID-19, we were experts in designing and implementing document management solutions that are secure, agile and enable productivity. By taking a holistic approach and considering the needs of the whole company, across departments, we can recommend software and hardware that will ensure information security, resilience and growth.

Greg Griffith - Hardware Product Manager - KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa