Nowadays, companies have no idea that they are vulnerable to high-risk situations with their office printers, such as the following:

• Theft: Print-sensitive documents that are not immediately secured can be easily swiped from anyone in the office. A proper way to restrict access is to lock down the printer using a password, enforce physical security by housing your devices in a safe area and incorporate locks, badges, and smart cards. An unsecured printer is easily accessible both physically and digitally.
• Printer attacks: Even the simplest print job can lead to a compromised printer and a major security risk. Today’s modern printing devices have memory chips and/or hard drive units that are a potential treasure trove of data for cybercriminals. DDoS attacks are common and used by hackers that remotely access the network and wreak havoc on sensitive information. These individuals find sensitive data that is easiest to be accessed remotely and either bring the system down to a halt with phony print jobs or use the device as a pawn.
• Network vulnerability: Many printers suffer from network vulnerabilities. An unsecured network printer can put the entire network at risk. A single open vector can access any connected device, making these “secure printers” compromised.
• Data breaches: From social security numbers to customer data and other confidential information, there is just about anything stored in printer caches. Information like this can be pulled out from most printers if left unguarded. Data encryption and improved security features on every printer are solid strategies to tackle this problem. For most organizations that don’t want to go through all the trouble of securing their new printers, IT service professionals are the best solution to this problem.

Now, let’s look at some of the best ways to prevent unauthorized print jobs and protect sensitive information on your devices.

Secure your printing ports if you don’t want a print scenario where your data gets lost or stolen from other systems. These are one of the easiest avenues for hackers to access your printer. For instance, the standard protocol for secure printing on new printer devices is IPPS via SSL port 443, so you should leave that open.

Your printer firmware needs to be up-to-date security-wise. Closing the known holes with the latest version will help prevent some basic printer issues. This is especially important if your printer(s) is at home.

Knowing that most printers are connected to WiFi, it’s easy to understand that they can be easily accessed with a password. If you haven’t changed yours in a while, do it immediately – just like your computer, users from outside your organization can figure out easy passwords for your printers and compromise your business data.