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Don't Let Office Print Compromise Your Zero Trust Security Environment

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What happens when Zero Trust encounters your print environment?  How do you avoid compromising an otherwise locked-down IT environment? How do you retain the ability to print as needed? 

For a rising number of organizations today, when it comes to security, trust simply cannot be earned without proper approval. No exceptions. Seventy-two percent of organizations are either in the process of adopting Zero Trust Security or have already adopted it, according to Statista. The number of organizations moving to this heightened security measure is on the rise as more employees work remotely.  The complexities of the modern environment are forcing IT leaders to shift to protect people, devices, apps, and data, wherever they may be located.

But what happens when Zero Trust encounters your print environment?  How do you avoid compromising an otherwise locked-down IT environment? How do you retain the ability to print as needed? 

What is Zero Trust?

In short, relying on traditional “perimeter” network security (Firewalls, etc.) is not sufficient with the advent of digital transformation and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Zero trust is not a specific infrastructure or software. It’s simply a concept that assumes that no user, device, or service can be trusted without necessary approvals.

Why is the Zero Trust Model Gaining Traction?

These stats help tell the story.

Though the Zero Trust methodology has existed for 10+ years, its gaining much greater traction today. A recent study by McAfee Enterprise and FireEye reported that cyberattacks have increased a staggering 81% since the beginning of the pandemic. Likewise, Verizon reports that the average cost of each incident is now $21,659, with 61 % of breaches being due to compromised login credentials.

With increasingly-sophisticated threats coming from so many directions, the simpler response is, simply, trust no one.

What are the Zero Trust Principles?

Microsoft has defined its own guidelines for this.

Since there is no universal definition of Zero Trust, organizations can interpret the term as they see fit. This leads to a wide variety of benchmarks because not all organizations give the same priority to data security. Following market and industry leaders, such as Microsoft and Google™, on their Zero Trust journey empowers organizations to build their own guidelines. Here they are, briefly:

1. Verify explicitly

Always authenticate and authorize based on all available data points.

2. Use least privileged access

Limit user access with Just-In-Time and Just-Enough-Access (JIT/JEA), risk-based adaptive policies, and data protection.

3. Assume breach

Minimize blast radius and segment access. Verify end-to-end encryption and use analytics to get visibility, drive threat detection, and improve defenses.

How does this relate to your print environment?

A printer is not often the first thing people think of when they discuss security, but it’s a necessary conversation because printers hold a ton of sensitive data and also transform digital files into physical ones.  

Traditionally inside most offices, PCs and printers are typically all on the same network or split into different virtual networks (VLANs) with a print server bridging the gap. However, in a Zero Trust model, as part of the 'assume breach' principle, the 'blast radius' of a potential breach is reduced by isolating each network endpoint as much as possible from all other network points.

This can also mean that internet access is only available from the internal network, i.e., no other communication routes are allowed. Should one PC become infected or compromised, it cannot spread because it cannot 'talk' to anyone else.

With a full Zero Trust micro-segmented network, companies are not only securing their business-critical data, but they are also able to remove their local on-premise infrastructure to free capital bound in server hardware, maintenance, and IT services.

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How do you apply Zero Trust to your Print Environment?

A Print Management solution like uniFLOW allows you to adopt industry-leading principles to your print environment. uniFLOW Online, a cloud-based printing, scanning and accounting solution, offers user functionality and flexibility; meanwhile, administrators maintain central control within a print and scan environment ... no matter the size.

Due to the entity’s close collaboration with Microsoft, uniFLOW Online being hosted within the Microsoft Azure cloud, the Zero Trust principles of uniFLOW Online were developed using the same principles we shared from Microsoft above.

1. Verify explicitly

All users connect to uniFLOW Online using their existing login credentials such as Azure AD, Google Workspace ™ or OKTA. This includes full support for multi-factor authentication and other policies defined by the IT department.

2. Use least privileged access

Multiple levels of privileged access are available so different users can only access the parts of uniFLOW Online applicable to their role e.g. maintenance staff have no insight into user data, neither do budget managers have access to the rest of the system.

3. Assume breach

All communications and the print path can be made via the internet. No lateral connections between PCs and printers are required on the internal network. All communication and print traffic is encrypted.

What are the benefits of Zero Trust + uniFLOW Online?

A Print Management engagement such as uniFLOW Online allows administrators to gain control over their environment. With print devices to the software, allow access only to privileged users, based on defined rules and abiding by Zero Trust guidelines. Furthermore, isolate every device to ensure network security is not compromised. With cloud-based uniFLOW Online, you remove all local print servers (without comprising security), with no capital tied to server hardware and maintenance.

Essentially, the only thing the printer needs is a power supply and an Internet connection.

Are you considering or implementing a Zero Trust environment? Got questions about that process and/or how it relates to print? We'd love to visit. Click to schedule your meeting with a Datamax Technology Specialist!

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SOURCE: uniFLOW

Topics: Office Equipment Print Management Network Security Canon MFP Security