Securing the print infrastructure amid a growing threat landscape

As organisations adjust to managing remote and hybrid teams, supporting digital transformation, and navigating an uncertain and volatile global economy, they face an ever-expanding landscape of vulnerabilities and increasing risk.

Quocirca’s research reveals that 42% of organisations have experienced a cybersecurity incident in the past year, rising to 51% in the finance sector and 55% amongst midmarket organisations. The volume of security incidents has increased in the past year for 61% of organisations.

The print infrastructure is not immune to security risks – on average, paper documents represent 27% of IT security incidents. Today’s intelligent multi-function printers (MFPs) not only pose a risk of paper output falling into the wrong hands – whether accidentally or maliciously – but also can be exposed as gateways into the rest of an organisation’s environment.

Home printers pose an additional risk, particularly those that were purchased by employees. This shadow purchasing means home printers may not meet corporate security standards or be monitored through centralised security tools.

Fortunately, print security leaders are mitigating risks. As shown by Quocirca’s Print Security Maturity Index, organisations classed as leaders, which have implemented a range of technology and policy measures, are seeing lower levels of data loss and have higher confidence in the security of their print infrastructure.

Vendor profile: HP

HP retains a leadership position in Quocirca’s 2023 vendor assessment of the print security market. It has a long heritage in end-user computing and continues to drive security innovation across its personal systems and print business.

With HP Wolf Security, HP offers a comprehensive and scalable security portfolio for businesses of all sizes – from small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to enterprises. HP Wolf Security portfolio unifies all HP’s end-point security capabilities with a range of advanced security features across its hardware, software, and services portfolio. In particular, HP’s leading market position is bolstered by having the most extensive channel network in the sector, supported by a broad range of channel tools and services to help channel partners build and enhance their security-led services.