Privacy, Pandemic, Print and Protection

Despite this, Quocirca revealed in its Global Print Security Landscape Report 2022 that organisations are struggling to keep up with the print security demands of the hybrid workplace.[4] The analyst has indicated that workers are continuing to rely on print, however the distributed nature of the print infrastructure has expanded the risk environment. Despite this, few businesses have implemented key print security measures.
 
Simple steps include, reducing the risk of confidential documents being left in an output tray (or remaining on the MFP hard disk) by thinking about who can use which devices, for what purpose and where. Also consider insisting an employee authenticates themselves to ensure documents are only printed by those authorised to do so, and private documents cannot be printed by devices located in public areas. This can be easily managed by requiring a valid credential (biometric, access card, or password) to be entered on the device, to ensure the presence of an authorised person ready to remove the printed documentation.

The GRAWE Banking Group is an excellent example of how this Authentication Management process can be managed. It is taking advantage of Konica Minolta’s Dispatcher Paragon print management solution, with its bizhub i-Series MFPs, to ensure that documents are only released at the printer after prior authentication. This is particularly important for MFPs located in the bank’s public consultation rooms. The Head of IT Infrastructure at GRAWE Banking Group, Armin Rettl, explains: “Dispatcher Paragon is everything and more than we expected from a print management solution with the strictest security standards.” Rettl adds: “Thanks to Authentication Management, we can prevent unauthorised access to the highly sensitive information, eliminating security gaps. For us, the solution has already become a vital module for secure and future-proof printing. With Konica Minolta, we have the right partner by our side, with whom we have a trusting relationship as equals.”
 
Other Konica Minolta solutions that offer printing with authentication (Follow-me print/Secure Print) are Workplace Pure, EveryonePrint Hybrid Cloud Platform and YSoft SafeQ.
 
To prevent the MFPs from becoming a gateway for hacker attacks, bizhub i-Series devices can have BitDefender Antivirus installed to conduct real-time scans of in and outbound data, to protect against document-borne viruses and malware.
 
Furthermore, with bizhub SECURE, different security levels and access licences can be set to ensure the security of office devices and  network settings.
 
Every environment needs to be secure
For organisations wanting a secure cloud-based solution Konica Minolta has aligned its print hardware, software, and services to create new opportunities for the post-pandemic hybrid workforce.
 
For example, bizhub SECURE works with Konica Minolta's new cloud-based solution Shield Guard, which provides remote security monitoring and management for MFP. It offers automatic notifications and remediation, and allows businesses to control the security status of multiple MFPs from anywhere.
 
Secure software-as-a-service offerings include Konica Minolta's Workplace Pure (coming soon) and EveryonePrint Hybrid Cloud Platform.
 
Konica Minolta's in-house developed cloud-based platform Workplace Pure is highly secure and GDPR compliant and provides 24/7 access to services including centralised upload to cloud repositories, cloud print, cloud fax, secure guest print, smart document conversion and translation - all automated and streamlined from a single trusted source. The data centre Konica Minolta uses for this is the Open Telekom Cloud (OTC) data centre in Germany, where all shared data is hosted and which is protected by the strictest EU legislation including GDPR. OTC has also been ISO 27001 (information security) ISO 27017 (security of cloud services) certified. To guarantee the highest possible data security and availability, all services are distributed across Scaling Groups via three Availability Zones. This means that the data security, which is always a paramount concern for any organisation, is fully assured with Workplace Pure.
 
EveryonePrint Hybrid Cloud Platform, which has a comprehensive security concept and ensures GDPR compliance (also the Konica Minolta data centre has been ISO 27001 (information security) and ISO 27017 (security of cloud services) certified)). The end-to-end encryption of EveryonePrint Hybrid Cloud Platform guarantees secure encryption protocols for the transmitted data across all transfer points. In addition, the multi-tenant offering from EveryonePrint HCP ensures real separation of the data: the tenants are separated in the database via containers or have physical database separation. This means there are no interfaces with other clients and client’s data cannot be viewed by others. In the unlikely event that a security key is broken, only that container/tenant can be accessed, not other tenants.
 
Responsibility for product security begins with the vendor
As vitally important as it is for organisations that rely on printers and MFPs to take the right precautions, the responsibility starts with the vendor, to ensure that every product, service, and solution meets the highest security standards. Konica Minolta puts its products through rigorous internal cybersecurity tests, ensuring they meet PCI, HIPAA, FERPA and GDPR compliance requirements. It also uses independent experts to conduct penetration testing, for example the internationally respected IT services provider NTT DATA spent approximately 80 hours trying to hack into bizhub i-Series MFPs and were unable to find any major security vulnerabilities.

In the world of document and data security, it is rightly said that any organisation is only as strong as its weakest link and print security needs to be part of an organisation’s security strategy. It is essential that every device, old and new is subject to the stringent security standards expected of any other device. The Quocirca report highlights the importance of printing (64% consider it critical or very important) and many IT decision makers expect office and home print volumes to increase during the next twelve months.[5]
 
The Intelligent Connected Workplace is fast becoming a reality and for everyone to enjoy the rich connectivity and productivity rewards it needs to be protected and compliant.