10 REASONS WE LOVE HP FOR PRINT SECURITY

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Although HP is well known for their printer line did you know HP Printers have security?  Yes, when I first heard about it I was like, “why would you need security on your printers”?  Well, let me tell you after doing some research it was apparent that security is a must for your printers.  Hackers can infiltrate ANY device that is hooked up to your network and steal data.  Typically, when you think of data storage you think of desktop, laptop, and server or backup devices, but did you know that data is also stored on your printers.  With the advancement of technology, printers have come a long way.  Printers now have memory, bios, and firmware and in some cases a hard drive, all places where data is stored in some fashion.  Employees copying, scanning, emailing or faxing important, classified, confidential, secret or any document in general, can be stolen, leaked or leave your company liable for regulatory compliance failures.   Most business printers are hooked up to a network and can be just as vulnerable as any other device in your infrastructure.  When you think of a virus you think of something being infected, well a printer can be a new access point where a virus can spread from device to device. When a ransomware attack occurs it can also be incapacitated just like any other device.  Just think your printer could start acting crazy and print or transmit random jobs, change its settings and worse lock you out completely.

So, here are the 10 reasons we love HP for Print Security:

  1. HP Inc. is a well know company and has been around for decades.  They have had a lot of time to perfect their print security and now boast that they are the “Most Secure Printers”.
  2. HP SureStart Technology: An excellent example of Cyber resilient self-healing technology. The best way to explain how this works is that it bring security down to the bios level.  As most of you know, bios is boot instructions that allow any device, in this case, a printer to load hardware components and initiate firmware. HP SureStart does bios integrity at startup to ensure that the bios is coming up clean. It checks that the bios is not corrupted and if for some reason it is, the system shuts itself down, does a self-clean/self-healing protocol and then restarts the printer with a clean bios.
  3. Secure Whitelisting: If you didn’t know, firmware (what basically allows the hardware and software to talk to each other) runs the control panel,  it determines what features are available when printing, scanning, or emailing, and provides network security. If this gets compromised it can leave your printer in a vulnerable state. Secure Whitelisting checks the printer’s firmware to ensure that the device only loads a safe HP certified copy.  If for some reason it finds a problem with the firmware, it too shuts down, reboots with a known golden copy and then reports this incident to the Security team via the control panel.
  4. Runtime Intrusion detection: This detects malware or infection during printer operation while connected to the network, when most printers are their most susceptible. Runtime memory is write protected meaning all data memory is rendered non-executable, so a virus or malware is unable to penetrate and corrupt the memory.
  5. HP JetAdvantage Security Manager: A solution that  Buyer’s Laboratory (BLI) calls “trailblazing”. This tool allows IT Managers to check and fix if necessary printer security settings across their infrastructure to ensure they comply with pre-set company policies and it does it in minutes not hours. It performs audits and reporting on each and every device. The interface helps IT managers streamline their security policies by establishing a single policy that can be applied quickly across all of your printing and imaging devices.  It can also automatically integrate and install both ID and CA certificates across your devices all at one time, speeding up the process and reducing overhead.  In addition, it auto-detects and renews certificates before they expire.  Unique to HP Security Manager is HP Instant-on Security which can automatically add new devices when they join the network and instantly configure them to be compliant with your policies.
    http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA5-3638ENA.pdf (BLI report of HP JetAdvantage Security Manager 2.1)
  6. HP Print Security Advisory Services: This supplemental service can supply guidance and risk assessments, security policy direction and solution recommendations. Customers work with HP Credential Security experts to assess their risks and come up with a comprehensive plan to address those vulnerabilities.
  7. HP Print Security Implementation Services: Once you’ve established a security plan maybe you need a little support to set it into motion. HP technical experts can help you deploy your security settings, add security enhancements like device certification and set up the monitoring you need to ensure your printers remain secure using tools like ArcSight or Splunk.
  8. HP Access Control Secure Pull Print: This feature resides on the print server but lets users print documents from a secure network and authenticate with a pin, or badge such as a Proximity Card Reader or other protocol. This averts unauthorized use and safeguards your devices.
  9. HP Custom Hardware Recycling and On-Site Data Destruction Service: How do you dispose of old equipment? If you put them in a closet and just forget about them, HP has a service which might work for you.  They will transport and coordinate all the logistics associated with your old and obsolete equipment to ensure it reaches their state of the art disposal facility.  Your hardware electronics data is then degaussed and/or shred.  Then assets are tracked, audited and certified that they were destroyed.
  10. HP Offers best practices white papers, analysis tools and Secure Managed Print Services Comparison Matrixes to help you assess and maintain your environment. See below for the links:
    http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA6-8821ENW  (HP Print Security and Compliance White Paper)
    http://h71045.www7.hp.com/rfg_formprocessor/secure_print/overview.html (Secure Print Analysis tool)
    http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA6-4643ENW (Secure Managed Print Services Comparison Matrix)

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