Member Article

Free whitepaper from Nuance aids MFD security

~~It may well be an old cliché, but in the context of IT security, there’s no denying that “you’re only as secure as your weakest link”, is as relevant now as it was in the early days of IT. With the millions of dollars and man hours invested in IT security today, networks are of course more robust and data better protected. But you only need to look at the recent DDoS attack suffered by the television, telecommunications, internet access, and mobile network services provider, TalkTalk, to see that no matter how comprehensive IT security is, cyber-criminals won’t stop in their quest to steal customer information or corporate data.

Hoping to prevent Multifunction Devices (MFDs) from becoming the weakest link and an easy gateway to confidential data or information, is Nuance Communications. Having indentified that many organisations are unaware of the potential security risks posed by internet-connected devices like MFDs, it has produced a free whitepaper entitled Security Made Easy. It claims to offer organisations advice on how to gain control of their MFD security in order to reduce the chance of a data breach incident.

There’s no doubt that with their ability to print, scan, copy and fax - and with their hard drives, embedded firmware, and ability to communicate with other systems on the network - MFDs make life in the office and at home easier. However, they also give rise to security vulnerabilities and, as such, it is essential that organisations incorporate these devices into their data security procedures. Recognising that many organisations still fail to realise the great number of electronic touch points a document goes throughout its lifecycle, the whitepaper explains that every time a document is copied, scanned, printed, faxed or emailed, it can be accidentally exposed or intentionally compromised. To illustrate why it is important to secure MFDs, the company pointed out that:

- The average organisational cost of a data breach is $5.4 million - The average “cost per record” of a data breach is $201 - 26 million individuals were impacted by data breaches since 2009 - Both malicious attacks and negligence were responsible for data breaches - 25% of reported data breaches were caused by the accidental loss or destruction of personal data

To tackle these challenges, Nuance devised nine recommendations based on common scenarios that exist in most environments that will address security vulnerabilities in network printing, scanning and faxing. The whitepaper expands in more detail on the recommendations below:

1. Require user authentication for auditing purposes. 2. Restrict access based on user authorisation. 3. Centrally audit all network activity. 4. Encrypt data to/from MFDs. 5. Only release print jobs to authorised personnel. 6. Implement rules-based printing. 7. Enforce trusted network destinations. 8. Monitor and control secure document activity. 9. Implement network faxing.

The advice in the free whitepaper could go some way to ensuring that MFDs are no longer a weak link in the security chain, but are an integral part of an organisation’s security defenses.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pete Jackson .