The Knowhow
Printers can connect to your network, connect wirelessly or connect to the internet so we can print remotely or in the 'cloud'.
Most of us know the risks of sending personal information across the internet - for example when we shop online we take security measures to stop our data being read by hackers.
The same needs to be put in practice if you are sending data to a printer either wirelessly or through the Internet. If you follow security precautions it should be perfectly safe to print wirelessly or remotely.
Printing securely:
- Disable remote access features unless necessary
- Most networked printers can be accessed remotely with a password. Make sure you change the default password and change it on a regular basis
- Never leave sensitive data (business or personal) in the printer memory
- Keep your printers firmware up to date which will close any known security holes with your printer
- If the printer can be accessed wirelessly, make sure the network is protected with WPA2 not WEP
- If the printer allows you to bypass its internal drive and print directly from RAM, choose this option and make sure print jobs aren't stored on the drive
- When you send a print job, be sure that it's on a secured network. Use encryption so a print job can't be intercepted along its path. Print jobs can even be sent to an encrypted print server, and then securely "pulled" from the server when ready
