Brother Gulf aims to provide greater security in printing

Highlighting the importance of safeguarding confidential data in printing devices, a report from research firm Gartner Dataquest revealed that secure printing practices can reduce office print expenditure by 10 to 30%.

While the popularity of MFPs in the region continue to bolster its units sales, which has reached 23 million in the first half of 2007, their position within an organisation's IT network makes them open to the same kinds of security threats as PCs and laptops.

Today, secure printing is mainly used in government and in defense agencies, in addition to a number of large enterprises in the legal and financial services industries.

Recognising the potential of tapping into the security printer market, which is witnessing rapid growth as evident in the presence of secure functionalities in smaller and relatively less expensive devices usually used by SMBs, Brother is investing further into the development of enhanced security features within its products.

"The threat of information theft via printing devices is often overlooked, with the absence of adequate measures to shield organisations from this kind of risk being buttressed by most administrators' unawareness of the dangers of unsecured printing," said Shinji Tada, Managing Director, Brother Gulf. "As such, our focus is to educate public and private organisations and highlight the security and financial benefits of adopting secure printing devices, especially in departments where security is key. We offer a range of MFPs that are equipped with state-of-the-art security technologies, thereby sealing the gaps in security in the network printing process, and we are looking at an outstanding opportunity to market these products in the regional market."

According to a printing habits study recently conducted by YouGov for Brother in the United Kingdom, three out of four SME owners are not aware of the risks of unsecured printing.

Furthermore, only 43% of businesses that are aware of the problems have undertaken measures to fortify their printing practices to combat threats.

With aims to aid organisations eliminate the risk of data loss and theft, Brother has launched a range of secure printing models, which include HL-5270DN, HL- 7050N, HL-8050N, HL-3260N, HL-4040CN, HL-4050CDN, MFC-8860DN.

These network ready models incorporate the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology that prevents hackers from being able to access the printed document when the data is being sent from the PC to the Network Printer.

Brother's devices incorporate technology that stores secure print jobs in the printer RAMDISK or on an optional HDD or Compact Flash memory card, which gives each print job a user-name, document name and unique PIN number, thereby ensuring that only authorised personnel can print the document.

Further, an LCD control panel facilitates convenient access to the stored print jobs and easy navigation around documents, while a standard web browser can also be used to manage the contents of the printer's hard drive or memory card by authorised staff.

Only after the PIN is keyed into the Printer from the Control Panel, will the document be printed.

After the printing is complete, the secure document is permanently deleted from the printer storage.

"Information sent to a printer can be susceptible to hacking, which can create grave business consequences for any business. By using Brother printers, administrators substantially decrease if not totally eradicate the risk of sensitive files being read, copied or manipulated, which poses a major threat to corporate security and competitiveness. Through our simple and effective solutions, we are taking printing security within the reach of the SMB and enterprise sectors alike, and we expect this practice to become a standard business protocol in the region," concluded Tada.