SECURE OFFICE NETWORKS
The challenges of building secure office networks Ensuring office networks are fully secure is a complex business, and many businesses – especially SMEs – need help to ensure that they are fully protected from potential attacks, and resellers have a crucial role to play in this.
Creating a secure office network is often more complex than many business leaders realise. It’s not just people who need to connect to the internet each day, but countless pieces of distributed technology too. An unsecured scanner, printer or fax system can easily act as an entry point for criminals looking to steal sensitive data or hack into the wider ecosystem. While many organisations are aware of the growing threat landscape, they rely on security vendors to keep them informed about the latest threats, and ensure their ecosystem is fully protected. As Sohin Raithatha, CEO of Redsquid, notes: “The full security landscape across all industries has transformed drastically in recent years. Printers and scanners have become much more sophisticated, to the extent where they now are capable of scanning emails and folders. While this has increased efficiency, it has also positioned many endpoints as potential targets for criminals.”
Security risks Any device connected to a network has the potential to cause a security concern. For most companies, the threat here isn’t anything new. However, printers and scanners can pose threats many organisations aren’t fully equipped to handle. “Organisations take many precautions when protecting their data and operating systems, and the risk posed by printers and scanners is the same as any product in IoT, networked or online devices,” says Paul Ryder, transformation services director at Ricoh. “However, where they differ is that businesses need to make sure their printers used on a network have secure access, as unsecured printers provide access to networks, and thus to the data.” As printers and scanners become more connected to the overall workflow in many businesses, they’re quickly becoming a more problematic area for business leaders. “Unfortunately, since the functions of printers seem so simple and internal, they’re typically overlooked when businesses reckon their network security hazards” says Michael Field, managing director of Workflo solutions. However, these tools are becoming a prime target for criminals, as they’re often responsible for transmitting and using huge amounts of data. “A printer can be at high risk when it might store old print jobs in its hard drive, keep copies of the queued print jobs in its flash memory even after being turned off or if the website used for administrating and remote working of the printer is not adequately secured,” says Michael. “All these factors can make printers a huge security risk for organisations and customers that connect to them.” Threat awareness For years, companies have been connecting printers and scanners to the internet to allow
Sohin Raithatha CEO Redqsuid
redsquid.co.uk
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There are no longer any end points which are safe. If an endpoint is connected to a network, it needs to be secured, and that security must be regularly updated.
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