Security printing: What could happen if you don’t protect printers?

If your business handles its own security printing, whether that’s printing security cards, cheques, product authentication or stock certificates, then it is critical that you take due care to protect sensitive documents. If you don’t, you leave your business vulnerable to document fraud and your employees open to identity theft.

It doesn’t take sophisticated hacking methods to gain access to internet-connected printers. In just a few steps, hackers can remotely steal sensitive documents that have been sent to print. Printers built by major companies that have become household names have been found to have security vulnerabilities with many companies also noted to have inadequately protected their printers.

So what’s the worst that can happen if your printers are targeted by hackers?

A successful attack could enable the hacker to gradually steal both money and goods. Even a single hack can significantly impact your company’s finances. Hackers can do this through access to print jobs and sensitive documents such as cheques, bank statements, contracts or even details about stock or product deliveries.

But that isn’t the only security threat posed. Hackers could also use a virus to read the printer’s network credentials which allows them to share emails or other corporate accounts if that printer has been used for other purposes like scanning or faxing. This can escalate to a full scale attack on your business in which your printer has been used as a starting point.

What can you do to protect your network printers from hackers or DoS attacks?

You can start by securing your ports by shutting them down or closing them when they are not being used. Old hard drives can also store information about past print jobs as well as other sensitive information so you should destroy or have them wiped if they are no longer in use. You can also invest in software to monitor your devices and alert you if any threats are detected.

The best way to protect security print items as well as other sensitive documents is by using a print management service that uses a range of security features to protect your sensitive information. At Hague, we have over thirty years of experience managing security print for high profile clients including banks and universities.

Enquire now and a member of our team will contact you to arrange a free consultation so we can talk you through your security print requirements in more detail.