Common Printing Threats and What You Can do about it

Sophisticated and severe cyber-attacks are causing sleepless nights to seasoned information security specialists and business owners throughout the world. More and more companies are looking into the concept of a single business function to manage a company's documents and PDF files. With a higher amount of business outcomes at stake in this age of advanced threats, data security must take priority and be the critical element in every enterprise.

We look into common and often overlooked document security issues and how you can go about fixing them.

Print files exposed in printer trays: Any individual can walk past a printer and collect sensitive information or documents that have been left unattended in a printer tray. In an organization where numerous employees walk by one another; many do not pay close attention whether a document has been picked up by an unauthorized user. Most users simply assume that the paper did not print and print it again, without noticing the loss. But what if those documents contained sensitive unclassified information regarding hospital patients?That then becomes a HIPAA violation and your organization could be in serious trouble.

How you can fix it: Installed viewers or secured printing software such as DRM can control the transfer and production of classified information. These robust controls tie the user to the data file or the PDF document and require him or her to identify themselves before beginning production. This can ensure that sensitive PDF files or materials are not lost in the paper shuffle or randomly picked up by an unauthorized user.

Sensitive information sent to printers and copiers: Cybercriminals can easily intercept and steal data sent from a print stream to a printer. This can be especially hazardous, as any and all data within the system stands in danger of being hacked.

How you can fix it: Employ end to end services that integrate security and give you control over your organization's current print and IT infrastructure, such as DRM. A comprehensive printing solution can safeguard your confidential data and documents.

Unauthorized apps used for scanning: A significant number of productivity apps help share documents. However, some of them can be used to steal data. It is vital to track confidential data when scanning through specific applications.

How you can fix it: All applications used to scan documents, especially cloud apps, must be authorized. It is also essential to create workflows for every application to monitor its usage.

Print prevention is a critical security application that can prevent unauthorized users from printing your documents and files. As an added layer of copy protection, it can effectively discourage users from photocopying printed PDF files and data documents or scanning them. Document digital rights management systems allow limited print copies that are watermarked and logged with authentic user information, only for individual users. Safeguarding your PDF files can prevent them from being printed unless you have expressly provided permission to do so. Using DRM means you can revoke that access if you want at a later stage.

Having the latest anti-malware solutions, firewalls, intrusion detection and vulnerability scanning technologies deployed may not be enough to fully protect company’s documents. Digital rights management (DRM) can be the answer to protecting PDF files and company's data. 

A robust PDF document security solution must allow you to publish secured PDF files that are print-disabled. However, at the same time, it should also enable secure printing with watermarks and unique information to prevent theft or piracy. It should also prevent printing to file drivers so documents cannot be easily converted to unprotected file formats.  Disabling the printing of PDF documents and files can prevent them from being easily scanned, shared or photocopied. If your organization's documents are print-disabled with adequate DRM controls, you can be assured that your documents will not be available to unauthorized users.

A valid document sharing and distribution service that employs DRM technology can protect a wide range of data files such as sensitive business documents, private credentials, legal information, copyrighted works such as e-books and more. By giving you the flexibility on how you share your documents and how all recipients view them, you can control the lifecycle of your protected documents. Besides you can also track and monitor which user has opened your report, how many times, when and where.

While many organizations are aware that their data must be protected, and not just the network, it is also essential to recognize that individuals with the data can sometimes be the weakest link. By employing DRM, you can be in complete control and know who has or hasn't seen your documents and take appropriate action.

Safeguarding confidential data is crucial, especially when there are multiple departments and numerous employees. In such cases, data breaches can happen more quickly than one might consider. Fortunately, with the right technology and document security solutions in place, such as DRM, your data can be kept protected wherever it goes.