Protect What You Print

Think of a medical practice where the computer printer is centrally located and seemingly anyone could walk up to the device and read a document with patient information as it is being printed. That scenario doesn't fly in this age of regulations designed to protect privacy. It would be wise to consider one of the many new network printers emerging in the marketplace, which are designed to protect against unauthorized access to devices and documents.

Many of the latest printers come with built-in capabilities to protect against security and privacy threats. These include external threats such as viruses and hackers, which use network connections and the processing capacity of networked printers to launch attacks; and internal threats such as unauthorized use and improper distribution of documents.

Network printers and multifunction products (MFPs) are vulnerable to both types of threats, says Ken Weilerstein, vice president of research in the Print Markets and Management Group at Gartner in Stamford, Conn. Furthermore, laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) have led to increased scrutiny of information such as credit-card numbers and patient records. As a result, Weilerstein says, IT and security managers are concerned about the risks these devices might pose.

Many vendors have developed security features at the request of companies concerned about security threats, and are now marketing these capabilities as standard offerings with their products, Weilerstein says. Security features "can be a differentiator for vendors; they can claim they have a feature that other vendors don't have," he says.

More customers are demanding better security for printers as they learn about security threats, such as identity theft, says Jim Fall, director of strategic planning at Indianapolis-based Cannon IV, which resells printers from Hewlett-Packard and other manufacturers. "IT organizations are starting to see more vulnerabilities as a larger percentage of their devices are sitting on a network," and are, therefore, more exposed, Fall says.

Fortunately for IT managers and VARs, there's a wide variety of printers on the market that come with some type of security feature. Following is a sampling of some of the latest.

Brother International, Bridgewater, N.J., in January began shipping the HL-5280DW ($349), a network-ready, monochrome laser printer that includes a Secure Print feature allowing a user to password-protect a print job, send it to the printer and enter a password at the printer to recover the document. The HL-5280DW features a print speed of up to 30 pages per minute (ppm), 1,200-x-1,200 dpi print quality, first-page printout in less than 8.5 seconds and 300-sheet paper capacity expandable up to 800 sheets. It also includes a built-in 802.11b/g wireless interface.

Oki Data Americas, Mount Laurel, N.J., a subsidiary of Oki Data in Japan, recently rolled out several printers with security features. One model, the C9600n ($3,399), is a color-laser printer with color output up to 36 ppm, monochrome up to 40 ppm; 1,200-x-600 dpi resolution; 760-sheet capacity expandable to 2,880 sheets; and a wireless option.

Network security features of the C9600n include IP filtering, which enables the printer to reject data received from unauthorized PCs or servers based on their IP addresses. An authorized administrator can use this feature to ensure that all users print through a centralized and secure printer server and that users' print job accounting can be centrally controlled. Another feature, Protocol/Service Port Disable, allows administrators to disable unneeded protocol and service ports to prevent access to the printer by hackers. The printer also supports Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), used for encrypting data over wireless LANs. And the C9600n has a fingerprint ID-authentication feature available.

Another color-laser printer from Oki Data, the C7350n, offers color output up to 24 ppm and monochrome up to 26 ppm; 1,200-x-600 dpi resolution; and 630-sheet capacity expandable to 1,690 sheets. The printer, priced at $1,799, has security features including IP filtering, Protocol/Service Port Disable, fingerprint ID authentication, and SNMP Security Community Name, which enables administrators to protect against unauthorized access to printers from outside a particular group.

Xerox, Stamford, Conn., in October 2005 introduced a color network printer, the Phaser 7400, which includes a Secure Print feature that enables users to assign a password to a print job, which must be entered at the device before the document is printed. The Phaser 7400, starting at $2,999, provides output of up to 36 ppm color and 40 ppm black-and-white and 600-x-1,200 dpi resolution.

Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, Calif., is offering new security- and access-control features on its latest inkjet and laser printers. The HP Deskjet 6980, introduced in January and priced at $150, and the HP Officejet Pro K550, rolled out in October 2005 at $200, feature SecureEasySetup, which enables simplified wireless network setup with Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security. The Deskjet 6980 offers print speeds up to 36 ppm black-and-white and 27 ppm color, with resolution up to 1,200-x-1,200 dpi. The Officejet Pro K550 provides speeds of up to 37 ppm black-and-white and 33 ppm color in draft mode, and resolution up to 1,200-x-1,200 dpi.

HP is also offering color access controls on several of its newest laser printers. With this feature, color-printing access can be controlled and managed by user, application, time of day and day of week. It's available on products including the HP Color LaserJet 3800 ($780) and HP Color LaserJet 4730mfp ($4,999).

Samsung Electronics America, an Irvine, Calif., subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., recently introduced a multifunction device, the SCX-4720FN, with a laser printer, copier, scanner and fax for $449. The printer provides up to a 22-ppm print speed and 1,200-x-1,200 dpi resolution and offers SecurePrint, a biometric-based printing security feature that requires a user's fingerprint authentication on each print job.

Lexmark International's X646e multifunction device ($2,999) features a monochrome laser printer with a print speed up to 48 ppm and 1,200-x-1,200 dpi resolution. Security features include Confidential Print, which holds print jobs until the intended recipient enters the appropriate PIN, Operator Panel Lock, which requires a PIN to access restricted menus, and TCP Connection Filtering.