2022 has come and gone, folks. And it was a doozy. Here’s a quick list of notable moments from this year:
- Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard gave us a real-life soap opera,
- Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars,
- we experienced record inflation,
- and the average cost of print-related breaches rose to over $750,000!
I don’t know about you, but nothing caught my attention more than the last one.
Companies certainly are taking notice of the rising costs of breaches with 70% of organizations planning to increase print security spending over the next 12 months.
With a lot to prepare for in the coming year, we’ve put together a simple guide to help you avoid catastrophic financial loss and implement secure printing solutions that will protect your organization in the year 2023 and beyond.
1. Go serverless and move to cloud printing solutions (and do it fast).
Quocirca’s 2023 Print Industry Trends and Predictions says, “Cloud adoption will drive print modernization.” Besides the fact that going serverless reduces operational and maintenance costs, moving to cloud-based printing platforms lowers your company’s chances of experiencing a data breach.
Surely by now vulnerabilities like PrintNightmare have hit your newsfeed enough for you to at least consider moving to a serverless solution. PrintNightmare wasn’t just a simple “one and done” event either. Attacks are still happening due to spooler vulnerabilities within Windows print servers.
You may think, “Well, patches are being released to fix it, right?”
True. But if you’re constantly patching for the same vulnerability, that means the doors are open to cyber attacks. Plus, if you’re always performing manual updates or falling behind on them, attackers will always have a window of opportunity to swipe your data.
How To Get Serverless Printing
Eliminate server vulnerabilities and keep cyber attackers out of your network by partnering with a secure direct IP printing solution that’s constantly performing automatic updates in the background. Also, ensure that you can migrate over to a serverless solution without experiencing printer downtime and slowing productivity.
2. Give your hybrid workforce (and contractors) secure ways to print.
Since the global shift to remote work, employee productivity and flexibility have been on the rise. However, the change hasn’t been as great for IT teams who need to oversee print activity throughout their organization.
Here’s what happened.
Remote and hybrid employees started using home office printers—not connected to the company network—to print. Some of these documents contain confidential information that can easily be swiped by cyber attackers who gain access to their unsecure network.
Other potential concerns revolve around insider threats. Remote employees who work with highly confidential documents can store print jobs with private information at home without the company knowing about it.
A Tessian report found that 46% of IT leaders are concerned about employees practicing unsecure cybersecurity behaviors like home printing. Adding to the concern of IT leaders, 54% of employees said they would try to find workarounds if software or security policies prevented them from doing their job.
So how can you encourage employees to print securely without hampering employee performance?
How To Get Secure Printing for Hybrid Workers
Start by adopting strict home printing policies and encourage your hybrid users to print securely from any network using Off-Network Printing. Off-Network Printing enables users to print to any network printer within your organization—from anywhere in the world!
Don’t believe me? There’s a whole other blog about it.
All jobs are encrypted end-to-end and aren’t released until the user authenticates at the printer or collaborates with another trusted employee to pick up the job for them.
3. Equip your users’ mobile devices with secure printing capabilities.
Many companies around the world have bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies in place. It’s a win-win situation for companies and employees. IT departments no longer have to buy mobile devices and employees can use the devices they’re most familiar with.
If not managed properly however BYOD policies can create headaches for IT departments since they are having to wrestle with different devices and operating systems. Admins have to carry out painstaking configurations or specialized deployments for every device. It gets repetitive and takes precious time away from IT teams.
Not to mention, money and resources are being burned on print-related helpdesk calls which account for a large percentage of IT’s workload.
How To Print Securely With Mobile Device
Leverage the technology you have with a Mobile Printing solution that gives you control over your print environment and lets you determine which users are able to print to which network printers. To add an extra layer of security, make sure you choose a solution that integrates with the identity providers you are currently using.
4. Start implementing pull and secure printing in your organization.
Unattended documents left in printer trays are one of the biggest reasons for data loss in many companies. A recent study by Formstack notes that 30% of print jobs never leave the printer tray! Imagine how many of those jobs hold personal information.
Regardless of industry or company size, end users print documents that hold critical data. Think of all the times you printed a document and ran across the room just to make sure no one accidentally got their hands on it. What kind of information would cause you to perform a dead sprint in the middle of the office, you ask?
Unfortunately, not all employees listed “glorified printer-sprinter” as a strength on their résumé.
Why do employees struggle to grab their documents? A wide-range of external factors.
They may have been pulled into an important meeting, hopped on a call, went out to lunch, or just completely forgot they printed the document.
How To Make Sure Documents Stay Confidential
Empower users to hold print jobs on their workstations until they’re ready to release them at the printer using Secure Release Printing. Instead of your users constantly running themselves into heart attacks, they are required to authenticate at the printer before the print job is released using one of several convenient release methods.
One of the more convenient release methods is Mobile App Release which allows users to release print jobs straight from an app or scanning a QR code. Mobile App Release is perfect for organizations who want to make use of their entire printer fleet without the burden of purchasing badge readers.
5. Try before you buy.
Remember, you don’t have to splurge immediately.
Plenty of secure printing solutions let you dip your toes in before you start investing. See what features they offer and decide if there is a potential fit. Here are a few things you might want to ask before you try:
Whatever you do, make sure they can provide you with the security you need to thrive in 2023.
Make 2023 your most secure year yet!
Unattended print jobs. Hybrid and remote workforces. Print server vulnerabilities.
How can you possibly address them all with one solution?
It seems like a tall order. But it can be made simple with an all-in-one solution that protects all your print data with no effort required on your end.
At its core, PrinterLogic’s direct IP printing solution eliminates your print servers and reduces your organization’s attack surface. We’re also a Zero Trust-compliant solution that authenticates all end users and devices via our integrations with major identity providers based on SAML 2.0 and JIT Provisioning.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
PrinterLogic’s Advanced Security Bundle addresses all of today’s top print security concerns and helps you protect your print data in 2023 and beyond with the following features:
- Off-Network Printing
- Secure Release Printing
- Offline Secure Release Printing
- Mobile App Release
- Concurrent IdP Support
Want more info? Check out our Advanced Security Bundle FAQ!