Secure Print
In its 2022 Print Security Landscape report, Quocirca found that 68% of organisations reported at least one print-related data loss over the past year.
Hybrid infrastructure, an increasing number of users and applications connecting to the corporate network and the rise in user-owned devices are putting unprecedented demands on network security. The same report shows that just 26% of respondents have complete confidence in the security of their print infrastructure.
Every organisation will have employees who need to print sensitive documents. Traditionally these employees would be given a personal printer as they would be reluctant to send confidential information to a shared printer. Unfortunately, once a printer is on a user’s desk, it is used for all printing, rather than just that of a sensitive nature leading to an increase in costs. Secure Print can reduce the number of personal printers and ensure confidential information can be printed securely at a shared device that is more cost effective.
What is Secure Print?
The standard printing model allows a user to send their print job directly to the printer for immediate printing. The document then sits in the printers output tray ready for collection. This can result in several problems.
- Disclosure of confidential information
- Potential GDPR breach
- Wasted Paper and toner
- Increased Printing costs
Secure Print solves these problems
Secure Print solves these problems by requiring the user to authenticate themselves at the device before the job is printed. Print jobs can be held at the device, on a print server or in the cloud until the user has authenticated themselves and selected the jobs they wish to print.
This model prevents confidential documents being forgotten and left in the output tray. It also reduces wasted prints and helps to cut your print costs on paper, toner and print volume.
How can I Set It Up?
Most business printers and multifunction printers have their own native secure print options that allow you to set a PIN in the print driver. Your print job is stored in the device’s memory and can be released by entering the PIN you set in the driver.
This model of Secure Print groups all printing jobs together in the same screen on the device. The device itself does not require authentication and you will be able to see all other users print jobs, but you will only be able to release the jobs that match your PIN. This option may suit a small office with a limited number of users.
In a large organisation you may want to prevent the visibility of confidential jobs, so they do not appear in the print queue at all. An example of this might be HR printing a termination letter or P45. The name of the print job will be visible in the print queue and the device log. Applications like uniFLOW and Papercut can mask the filename and only present the user with their own prints.
Secure Print Enforcement
The previous option is what we call Native Secure Print. It uses settings in the print driver to instruct your MFP to send the print job to the queue. You can default the print driver settings to Secure Print from the server or at each PC in your organisation. However, this does not force the use of Secure Print, as the user can simply change the output method back to direct print.
This model of Secure Print groups all printing jobs together in the same screen on the device. The device itself does not require authentication and you will be able to see all other users print jobs, but you will only be able to release the jobs that match your PIN. This option may suit a small office with a limited number of users.
Forced Hold also supports exceptions. For example, you may have an MFP in reception where non confidential documents for customers are printed on a regular basis. To save time, we can set an exception for the receptionist’s user account so that only these jobs can bypass the secure print function.
Secure Print Authentication Options
Once authenticated, the user can view and select their jobs directly on the MFD screen. The user can see a thumbnail of the first page of the job and select options, such as double sided, staple and colour before it is printed. If the job is no longer required, the user can also choose to delete the job rather than print it. The managed print application can even track the savings made from deleted jobs in in the database.
Advantages
“61% of data breaches within companies with fewer than 500 employees involve paper records.”
Keep network print jobs confidential
Increased Device Security
Reduce print waste and costs by only releasing jobs the user needs
Show return on investment from new printing strategy.
How can I Set it up?
- On your keyboard, hold down the Windows key and press the R key to open the Run window.
- In the Run window, type control printers and press the OK button.
- A window should open with a list of installed Printers.
- Right click on the Printer and select Printer Properties.
- Click the Preferences Button.
- Change the Output method from Print to Secure Print.
Click Yes to the Prompt and then enter a PIN of your choosing in the PIN field.
How to default all users to Secure Print
If your print queue is shared from a server, you can set the printing defaults to Secure Print so that all users will default to the Secure Print output method.
This is essentially the same steps as above, but you use the Printing Defaults option instead of Printing Preferences.
Tip: Make sure to leave the PIN field empty.
- On your keyboard, hold down the Windows key and press the R key to open the Run window.
- In the Run window, type control printers and press the OK button.
- A window should open with a list of installed Printers.
- Right click on the Printer and select Printer Properties.
- Click the Advanced tab and then select Printing Defaults.
- Change the Output method from Print to Secure Print.
- Click No to the Prompt so that the PIN field remains blank. The user can set this themselves when they send a print.
How to setup authentication or enforce Secure Print
If you would like to secure your print environment by adding card authentication or enforcing secure print throughout your organisation, please contact us. One of our experts at Cantec Group will outline and clarify the available options based on your requirements.
Docutec Secure Print
More than just secure print...
As part of the Cantec Group, Docutec also help businesses with their document workflow automation via their office automation services such as document management system, document security and accounts payable. Managed Print Services such as Canon printer lease, cloud services, remote printer and more are available too.
We sell and lease print and scan devices such as business printers, multifunction printers, photocopiers, large format printers, high volume printers, office printers and document scanners.
