Tips For Securing Your Printer

securing your printer

Encrypting communication that takes place over the internet is now considered a standard security practice, this includes the obvious things that spring to mind; emails, online transactions and submitting personal data.

And this also includes printing documents.

It’s usually the last thing that comes to mind when thinking of potential security risks, however your printer is actually one of the easiest gateways that hackers can use to access sensitive information on your network.

Being slack with your printer’s security can also pose an internal security risk, too. Revealing confidential and sensitive information to people in your organisation; breaching data protection and GDPR rules and regulations.

Below are a number of security tips that you can follow to help keep your printer secure.

Use Printer Encryption

Printer encryption works by converting the data or information stored on a document, into code so that it can’t be intercepted and uncovered when it is being transmitted over the internet.

Using printer encryption allows you to encrypt your print jobs before they are sent to the printer, keeping the contents of the print jobs secure.

Encrypting your print jobs is particularly important if you are printing over a shared, unsecured or public network.

Keep Your Printer Up To Date

Hackers prey on devices, websites, and servers that are not up-to-date, and that includes printers.

Printers that are not updated, do not have the latest security measures in place, meaning it’s much easier for hackers to access them.

By downloading and installing the latest updates from your printer’s manufacturer, you can ensure that you are keeping your printer up to date with the latest fixes and security preventions.

Set Up Print Authorisation

These days, many printers are embedded with technology that allows you to control who has access to them and who can use them. This not only helps to prevent sensitive data losses, due to limited access, but it can also save you money in the long run by reducing wasteful printing (win win).

Password Protect Your Printer

If you share a computer or printer that has wireless printing capabilities, you might want to limit who can use them to print documents.

Password protecting your printer means that no one can complete a print job without providing the correct password beforehand, keeping documents and their contents safe.

Following these tips can help protect your confidential information and make your printing environment that much safer.