IT departments and providers must collaborate for effective security

In the UK alone, at least one organisation suffers a major data breach each day. In light of the recent slew of cybercriminal activity, organisations have become increasingly conscious of the various touchpoints throughout the business, such as printers that require both external firewalls and strong internal authentication.

However, when implementing these security measures, it’s vital that organisations ensure there is close collaboration between the IT department and all providers, according to Y Soft Corporation.

A study from Quocirca found that nearly 63% of organisations have experienced at least one security breach through printing; this isn’t a surprise, considering that a Ponemon Institute study highlights that 56% of organisations exclude printers and multifunctional devices from their security strategies.

As enterprise workflow solutions are typically embedded as part of the MFD’s set of features and communicate to third-party systems, the security of the entire system must be considered. Therefore, it is important for close collaboration between an enterprise solution provider, the MFD service provider and an organisation’s IT department.

“With organisations constantly having to battle cyber attackers, and the threat of a fine under GDPR, businesses must make sure that they are aware of all touch points, especially networked MFDs,” says James Turner, regional sales manager at Y Soft.

“Unauthorised or open access to an MFD creates the potential for a security breach within an organisation. Given how damaging a breach can be on an organisation’s operations, bottom line and reputation, it is vital that print security is considered a key pillar in a company’s wider cybersecurity strategy.

“Although the threat landscape is increasing, so are the software and hardware solutions to combat these threats, but these will only be truly effective if implemented in collaboration with one another. As an example, the MFD is a fundamental piece of office equipment, providing increased productivity and convenience. For many organisations, the MFD network still incorporates a number of different hardware manufacturers, a separate software supplier and the IT department then implements its own processes and rules.

“Without proper protection from the enterprise solution provider, the MFD service provider, and the IT department, the MFD can enable unauthorised access to the network, risking both corporate and customer data.”

Turner concluded: “Achieving a secure enterprise workflow infrastructure is a critical concern for both providers and end-users to close the security gap. In order to ensure security for organisations, it’s vital that enterprise solution providers, service providers, and IT departments, work together to implement print management software and hardware that places a strong emphasis on safety. Failure to do so exposes end user organisations to vulnerabilities within an office’s IoT sphere.”

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