Why MFPs Matter to IT Part IV: Ensuring Security on the Network

Executive summary
In the 21st century, and with information as the key asset of every organization today, security is essential to the office------for documents and for any devices connected to the network. And the network is today’s business hub.

The threat is very real and the stakes are growing at exponential rates. A breach in the security of an organization’s documents can result in unauthorized use of sensitive or proprietary information. It can lead to harmful disclosure, stolen or compromised intellectual property and trade secrets. And for many organizations, these security breaches can end with costly fines and litigation, to the tune of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.

When it comes to networked multifunction devices, or MFPs, additional vulnerabilities can be present because these devices can print, copy, scan to network destinations, send email attachments and handle incoming and outgoing fax transmissions. For those in IT, it’s critical to the security of an organization’s network to make sure that security infractions can’t happen through networkconnected MFPs------or at the devices themselves.
After all, attacks can originate in unexpected ways:

• The phone line attached to an MFP could be used to access the network
• The web server used to manage the MFPs and printers is vulnerable to attack
• Unprotected electronic data at rest on the hard disk, or in motion to/from the device
• Malicious emails can be sent from an MFP with no audit trail.

Just about anyone can launch attacks against a network and a company’s information assets if an MFPs physical and electronic access isn’t securely controlled and protected. Those attacks can be as simple as someone picking up documents left in the MFPs output tray, to malicious worms pulling sensitive documents off the network.