Managed Print Services: Security Problems & Solutions

It’s not every business solution that alerts you to security problems and helps identify the best approaches. Luckily, that’s exactly what managed print services is capable of. Let’s take a closer look!

Protecting What Matters with Managed Print Services

Managed print services is a great solution for optimizing your print environment and helping cut waste, but is it up to the task of protecting data, identifying vulnerabilities, and making your machines more reliable?

The answer is yes–and it all comes down to a simple approach.

Instead of relying on guesswork, managed print services providers perform a print audit to learn what’s really going on in your print environment. By taking a look at your habits, strengths, weaknesses, and needs, your provider can tell what your unique security vulnerabilities are–and, more importantly, exactly which solutions will put you on the path to success.

Here are some problems and solutions often identified by managed print services:

Problems

  • Default passwords: Printers come with default passwords for many tasks and connections. Unfortunately, these passwords are easy to guess–and, in some cases, may already be well-known in the hacker community.
  • Abandoned print jobs: If a document is forgotten on the print tray, it can be picked up by anyone who walks by or could become accidentally entangled with another stack of documents.
  • Uncontrolled hard drives: Printers store data on their hard drives to help optimize the print process. This data can be accessed and stolen.

Solutions

  • Good password habits: With managed print services, it’s easy to get into better habits–like changing all those default passwords. Your provider will help you come up with ways to manage these passwords (and even change them regularly for maximum security).
  • Follow-me printing: Solutions like follow-me printing allow a machine to “hold” print jobs until the appropriate person enters a code or PIN at the machine. That means no more documents left alone on the print tray.
  • Data wipes: Although securing your machines is the first line of defense, managed print services can also help you create a schedule for regularly wiping data from your printers’ hard drives. This means you won’t be inviting digital bad guys to a whole cache of valuable information.

Conclusion

Although managed print services is known for its ability to save money and streamline workflows, it’s also an incredible solution for improving security. By identifying problems and helping implement targeted approaches, managed print really is a great way to protect what matters.

Ready to see managed print services in action? Contact us today!