Companies invest millions of dollars to protect their computer networks from outside attack. But is the information on your network secure from internal thieves? In the quest for information security, a commonly overlooked area is printers and copiers. In an unsecured print environment, employees can often print, copy, and scan sensitive corporate information--with no record that the security breach ever occurred.

Most printer and copier vendors do not talk about security. At Genesis Technologies, we realize that this is a critical aspect of the solutions we provide to our clients.

Hacker Vulnerability
Many of today’s printers and multifunction systems house the same types of processing power found in desktop computers. These networked devices often have hard drives and are connected to email servers. Information can be stolen from these devices if they are improperly configured. However, the good news is that HP devices can employ encryption to ensure this data is protected. Many systems also have an optional hard drive lock that physically locks the drive in the device.

User Authentication
Before users can use printing, scan-to-email and scan-to-folder functions they are required to log into the network to authenticate their identity. Outbound emails can go through your Exchange server to keep a record for compliance and eDiscovery. Compatibility with common user directory protocols allows users to authenticate against your existing user groups, minimizing administration.

Private PIN Printing
Confidential jobs can be sent to network printers and released when the user enters a security code at the printer. This helps protect sensitive information.

Secure Networking
IPsec secure networking can be used in IPv4 or IPv6 environments to encrypt information and ensure it gets to the intended destination. Secure IPP protects print jobs. Wireless encryption protects wireless features.

To learn more about how you can secure your printer network, contact us today.