01732 759725 40 VOX POP continued... The pandemic and in particular the move to hybrid working, shone an extra bright light on security. A number of high-profile breaches have shown that printers are easy prey for hackers – however, traditionally, the print infrastructure is an area that’s often overlooked. PrintIT Reseller invited some of the sector’s leading vendors to talk security Let’s talk security Jon Palin, Service Director MPS division, Elmdale Maintenance Ltd: We find that larger corporate and government contracts do invest in these areas heavily, but smaller businesses are still reluctant to invest in many of the products available to help secure their printing infrastructure. The current economic climate is a driving factor behind small businesses’ decisions not to invest in cyber security making it difficult for them to divert budgets from other areas of their business. Mark Bailey, Managing Director, EBM Managed Services: Interestingly enough, in the SME space we specialise in, IT/ Network Managers often don’t have print security on their radar. We are continuously educating SMEs on the important of print security as it’s often overlooked. Many businesses purchased MFDs and really didn’t look further than the procurement decision and cost factors, not realising they have effectively added an unprotected PC to the network. Although we are still far away from the ideal situation where the procurement decision has printer security as one of the top priorities, we are seeing movement toward this; however, in the tough inflationary environment SMEs find themselves in, every pound counts and real term spend still remains low and should be higher than it currently is. Andy Ratcliffe, Managing Director, Key Digital: Among our existing customers, we have definitely seen a surge in requests for print security protocols and requests to implement print security policies as we have taken the time to highlight potential vulnerabilities. With many companies implementing hybrid working and BYOD strategies, there is opportunity to highlight where the print device can play a crucial part in data security. Solutions such as smart phone print release, roles-based access levels and redaction features become really powerful tools when implementing these strategies. Martin Randall, Sales and Marketing Director, Vision: Whilst print security may have been viewed as a lower priority in the past there is a growing recognition that it is a critical component of any organisation's overall security strategy. It’s another attack vector that needs to be accounted for. This is especially prevalent as more employees work remotely, often using home printers to print sensitive company data but with reduced security features. As a result we’ve seen many clients increasing their focus and spend on print security by implementing measures such as centralised security protocol and certificate management applications, to pro-actively enforce against (and dynamically remediate from) threats. Cloud solutions add further complexity to this and throughout the supply chain, security standards are increasingly becoming a ‘must have’ in order to progress through the procurement process. Arguably not a bad thing as in terms of security, it raises the bar throughout the industry. Kerry Rush, Product Marketing Manager – Hardware and Facilities, Sharp: Security is becoming an ever-increasing priority for our customers. With the new enhanced feature-set of our awardwinning BP Range, we add value to conversations and assist our customers in securing their whole MFP fleet and network. PrintIT Reseller: Print security has traditionally been viewed as a lower priority than other areas of the IT infrastructure. As over-stretched IT teams continue to battle against an ever-expanding attack surface, have you seen a shift in terms of increased focus and spend in this area? Whilst print security may have been viewed as a lower priority in the past there is a growing recognition that it is a critical component of any organisation’s overall security strategy Martin Randall Jon Palin
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