Although banks and financial institutions go through great lengths to employ various security protocol methods and invest into expensive computer network security, they often overlook the need to protect their printers. Spoiler alert: data breaches don’t only happen because of stolen laptops or hacked servers.
According to Quocirca’s Print Security Landscape 2022 study, 68% of surveyed businesses reported a data loss as a result of unsecure printing practices, leading to an astronomical average cost of data loss reaching £632K.
Unsecure printers are an invitation to hackers
Today, printers are fully established smart devices, directly hooked up to company networks and offering an easy entry point for potential hackers. Not to mention the blatant risk of document theft; anybody can simply walk up to your unprotected printer’s output tray and snatch away a confidential document. And then there is your printer’s storage which can digitally retain thousands of documents for long periods of time, presenting another opportunity for key information to go missing or be stolen. In short, security breaches through a printer can happen in more ways imaginable and the recent rise of cyber-attacks only proves that hackers are becoming more creative in the way they access sensitive business data.
Failure to keep information safe can result in reputation damage, loss of client confidence or regulatory fines to name but a few consequences. Hence why it’s important to pick a trusted provider that develops devices with security at the forefront of their mind. Recently awarded the prestigious BLI Security Validation Testing seal of approval from Keypoint Intelligence for its A3 devices, Kyocera will give you the reassurance you need when it comes to keeping your client’s information completely secure. To that end, we present the TASKalfa 7054ci series.
Ensuring document security and confidentiality
On a daily basis, banks and financial institutions handle documents containing sensitive personal and confidential client information such as customer records, statements, invoices, mortgage documents and tax records. Keeping this information protected is not only a matter of avoiding data breaches and fines, but also complying with the business’s own security policies and maintaining the trust of customers.
Considering how vulnerable printing devices can be without the right protection features, it is essential for organisations to invest in solutions that are truly capable of defending your data against sophisticated cyber-attacks. Kyocera’s latest models, the TASKalfa 7054ci series, provides rigorous protection of your customer’s information with their integrated ‘Data Security Kit’ that enables data encryption and sanitization on the print system. By supporting the Syslog protocol, these devices can provide real-time analysis of security alerts, so any illegal operations are recorded and monitored adequately, also helping administrators to identify any suspicious activity before disaster strikes.
Furthermore, the TASKalfa 7054ci series ensure that communication is secure and encrypted when users scan documents to email from the device. Emails are encrypted using the recipient’s public key while the recipient needs to use a private key to read the message. The same goes for digitally signing emails; the recipient will also know that the message is both authentic and unaltered. These steps not only reduce the risk of data breaches, but also help to avoid any possible sanctions.
Preventing unauthorized access to sensitive information
When handling confidential documents, only authenticated users should have access to stored information on the device, however, this is not always easy to control when
using a shared company printer. In an office environment, it’s easy for anybody to pick up any forgotten printouts left at the device, posing a security risk and possible data leakage. And now with teams working more flexibly, the likelihood of employees accidently leaving printouts has increased.
To prevent unclaimed printouts at the device, TASKalfa 7054ci series devices, can be configured to only print when an authorised user presents their card or pin code at the device. Strictly following user setting and authorisation rights, the devices prevent unauthorised users to get their hands on any printed or digital information. Furthermore, the devices give users a notification when printed documents are forgotten.
However, the TASKalfa 7054ci series not only prevent physical theft, but also reduce the chances of any hacker penetrating the printer system. The TASKalfa 7054ci series is integrated with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) which reduces the risk of data disclosure and makes your data on the SSD/HDD rigorously protected, even when the firmware is compromised or altered. This means that any hacker attempts to steal or access confidential information stored on your printer will always fail.
How important is document security?
Evidently, data security is of paramount importance to the modern business. The domino effect of a data breach can affect every aspect of a business, destroying everything from its reputation and budget to decreasing workplace productivity. Today’s digital age further adds pressure on banks and financial institutions by demanding that they digitise while keeping their customer’s perception of security, reliability and trust. This is no easy task if printers are their glaring security blind spot.
Therefore, it’s time for banks and financial businesses to make printer security a priority. With a trusted provider like Kyocera, their workplace is set up for success.
