Ringdale’s Eric Crump recently gave his thoughts regarding securing the office in today’s security conscious environment.

Question: Is the MFP truly a threat to an organization’s security, or is it overblown hype?

Eric Crump: Definitely a threat. MFPs and printing pose significant security threats if left unmanaged, and exposure is as simple as confidential documents sitting unattended in printer output trays. More sophisticated breaches have already been publicly reported multiple times for unsecured printers, and also other Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices. Managed print providers and customers need to become more aware of the potential risks and take security audits seriously, in order to actively deter any potential breach, just as they do for computers and mobile devices.

Question: Who do you think is the more dangerous threat to network security – insiders or outsiders?

Crump: In regards to printing and network security, we have seen compromised insiders as the more dangerous threat as they are most familiar with the data (it is inherently easier for an outsider to compromise an insider than attacking an organizations network externally). Executives, salespeople and HR departments have access to highly confidential information and printing is not monitored and controlled. Unfortunately for most customers, they are only seeing there is a need for content monitoring after a significant breach has occurred. As unsophisticated as printing seems, it is easily possible for reams of credit card details, financial account records and patient health information to be accessed and to be printed without being detected. Without the appropriate safeguards in place, companies are susceptible to breaches, fines and lost business.

Question: What is the most common security weakness that you see in today’s business environment?

Crump: Like I mentioned before I think paper sitting unattended in the output tray is the most common security weakness for printing. In fact, last year 61 percent of organizations with active managed print services admitted to security breaches due to printing1. In reality the number of breaches probably is much higher. Printers in headquarters and branch offices are exposing sensitive information on printed pages about salaries, layoffs, intellectual property and client data. This reality is a big opportunity for print providers to expose and address the need for security services with prospective clients.

Question: In your opinion, are most organizations doing enough to protect their most critical business assets from threats and vulnerabilities?

Crump: Larger organizations are doing a better job at securing their businesses mostly due to the overall costs of breaches, including fines for non-conformance with industry regulations such as PCI-DSS, HIPAA and GDPR (fines up to 4 percent of annual global revenue). Damaging public news about these occasional breaches easily makes viral tweets, but breaches from SMB organizations go unreported and are more at risk for being undetected. This is an area to serve SMBs immediately, as solution providers can step up to be the trusted security advisor with security assessment and management services.

 1 2017 Print Security Report


Download the 2017 Print Security Report


About Eric Crump

Eric Crump is the Director of Strategic Alliances for Ringdale. He leads and develops the strategic alliance activities with global partners and key industry analysts. He has over 21 years’ experience in the printing and imaging industry. He has served in this role on the FollowMe Team since June 2014.
Previously he worked for Lexmark since 1995, holding various sales and marketing positions including the management responsibilities for Global and EMEA marketing organizations.

About Ringdale

Ringdale invented FollowMe and the print roaming technology in 1997 and has continued to be at the forefront of the industry for over three decades. With offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and Japan, Ringdale has a strong global partner network and relationships with the world’s leading printing manufacturers including Brother, Canon, Hewlett Packard, Lexmark, Konica Minolta, Kyocera Mita, Oce, OKI, Ricoh, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba and Xerox.


Cybersecurity and Healthcare