When you think about security concerns in technology, your first thoughts may be around computers or Smartphones. It is easy to overlook printers as a source of data breaches, but it is prevalent. A recent survey by market research team IDC found that over half of the people surveyed experienced at least one printer-related breach in the previous year. With that number in mind, it seems that many organizations could do a better job of keeping printer security a higher priority.
Networked printers can be the gateway into entire school district’s systems. Printers at schools receive, send, store, and print sensitive data all the time. These present perfect opportunities for hackers to commit data breaches, achieve financial gain or bring about other damage.
Some threats can be strictly local. Someone can steal an unattended printout or gain access to a printer’s storage media to harvest sensitive data. While this is a problem, remote threats can occur as well.
Attackers can use malware to compromise the printer systems and gain access. Given all the risks, schools need to plan against printer-related hack and have plans to fight them.
Take Advantage of Features in Newer Printers
- Automatic updates: It’s important that printers use the latest updates for their basic system, firmware, operating systems and all other installed software. This prevents vulnerabilities.
- Storage encryption: If a printer’s storage is strongly encrypted, attackers will be unable to recover data even if they gain physical access to the storage.
- Firmware integrity monitoring: A printer that monitors the integrity of its firmware can detect unauthorized changes to the firmware itself, as well as associated issues in the printer’s memory, this can force a reboot to the printer to wipe the memory.
- Authentication: Authenticating individuals whenever they want to use a printer is unfeasible, but it is strongly recommended for printer administrators, who can be authenticated through smart cards, biometrics, PINs or other means. No matter the method schools use, it’s critically important to change all default passwords or PINs so attackers can’t readily guess them.
- Storage sanitizing: Some printers are able to sanitize storage on demand to prevent it from recovering sensitive information. This is a key step to perform before allowing a printer to leave the school. Even if a printer uses storage encryption, sanitizing is still recommended because flaws in the storage encryption mechanisms might be detected in the future.
While older printers lack most current security features, they also have fewer vulnerabilities. Each printer model is different, and especially when they are older, may have to be handled differently for security issues.
Adding on security features to older printers is usually costly and can be ineffective, so IT administrators will typically find that replacing old printers is the more cost-effective strategy.
Keeping printers locked and only available to people who have a password can be incredibly beneficial. Having an open network leaves anyone open to hack in or to print obscene or inappropriate documents.
Risks related to networked printers can be easy to overlook, but they are also among the easiest loopholes to plug, given the proper tools and procedures.