Networked hardware presents potential vulnerabilities for customers and profit opportunities for solution providers.

With some industry researchers estimating that approximately 85 percent of all businesses have suffered data intrusions it's no wonder that security considerations are top of mind for most organizations.

From these threats come new opportunities for solution providers that know how printing environments impact security and can sell their expertise to customers as part of larger print-management contracts.

Heightened security risks arise when printers and multifunction products (MFPs) plug into corporate networks. The potential threats are especially high with unprotected MFPs that offer unscrupulous or merely careless users the whole gamut of printing, copying, scanning, and faxing capabilities to distribute sensitive information internally or to outsiders.

The good news is that solution providers have more tools than ever to safeguard MFPs and workgroup printers. And while the individual tools may not be beyond what internal IT departments can set up and manage on their own, having a trusted solution provider to do the job along with contracted maintenance and service duties assures that the protections remain up-to-date and as effective as possible.

Access is Everything
The heart of any printing-environment security strategy lies in access controls, the software or software/hardware combinations that regulate how people use printers and MFPs. Access controls require employees to authenticate themselves by entering passwords or perhaps also swiping a smartcard. For example, Xerox's Secure Access security system for MFPs works with employee badge ID and proximity-access systems to authenticate users and log their activities in the printing environment.

In addition, tools like Hewlett-Packard's MFP access controls can also restrict a user's ability to send electronic data via e-mails or faxes from an MFP. Restrictions may be sender-oriented—only select users are cleared for this activity, or they may be receiver-focused—messages may travel only to select destinations.

The best authentication tools work with a range of technologies to establish user identities, including Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP); NT LAN Manager, or NTLM (the "NT" indicating its roots going back to Microsoft Windows NT era); and Novell and Kerberos network security protocols.

Both OEMs also offer software that allows users to send print jobs to any output device on the network and hold the job on the machine's hard drive until an authenticated user retrieves it.

Customization is Key
Solution providers should also evaluate access controls for their flexibility so organizations can easily assign different levels of access rights depending on each individual or his or her role in the company. Thus, junior-level employees may be allowed to only perform basic printing functions, while department managers also are entitled to use a scan-to-e-mail feature.

Finally, access tools should quickly generate reports that show how individuals have used each device, as well as the overall activity volumes experienced by each printer and MFP. The reports not only provide audit trails in the event of suspicious security activities, they also help solution providers demonstrate their ability to meet service-level agreements outlined in managed-services contracts.