Next Level Security for Networked MFPs
Cybersecurity attacks and ransomware demands pose the most serious of threats to any business. In most ransomware cases, a data collection agent is deployed on a network to gather financial data, passwords, social security numbers, etc. Printers and MFPs are popular devices on which to install the agent because most remote monitoring and management tools (RMM software) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems do not assess threats on these types of peripherals.
Sharp has been at the forefront of MFP security and, in fact, was the first manufacturer to be Common Criteria certified in the United States. Sharp announced an industry first partnership with one of the world’s leading cybersecurity providers, ConnectWise, at their national sales meeting in April. Both internal and external IT support teams will now be able to manage, monitor, and review the same organizational IT security reporting on printing devices that they see on computers, laptops, and servers. The new Sharp/ConnectWise Print Security Service for MFPs and printers will capture and analyze a comprehensive range of event logs, and alert customers to potential cyber threats using ConnectWise’s SIEM monitored 24/7 by ConnectWise’s Security Operations Center (SOC). Event logs and alerts from an organization’s MFP or printer will be collected and analyzed via the SIEM against an entire ecosystem of threat intelligence feeds, providing security risk feedback and event notification on MFPs and printers to your organization’s IT provider. With the Sharp/ConnectWise partnership, MFPs and printers will be integrated into an organization’s overall security posture and broad IT system threat detection in the SIEM.
This extra layer of protection is in addition to the outstanding security suite already offered by Sharp that includes the following:
- BIOS Integrity Check at Startup: helps protect from malware attacks.
- Firmware Attack Prevention: checks for abnormal firmware updates.
- End of Lease Data Erase: removes all customer data including email addresses, fax numbers, cloud connectors, and network folders.
- TLS 1.3 Encryption: prevents eavesdropping while data is in transit.
- Real-time Intrusion Detection: denies access to abnormal connection requests.
- Application Whitelisting: prevents unauthorized files from being downloaded.
- AD Integration and Group Policy: allows administrators to centrally manage select security settings.
- 256-bit AES Encryption: ensures that data residing on the local hard drive is protected.
- IP/MAC Address Filtering: authentication and port control to protect access to the device.
- WPA2 Wi-Fi Encryption: supports the latest data encryption standard for wireless networking security.
NBM is a long-time certified ConnectWise Cybersecurity partner, making implementation of this new Sharp/ConnectWise Print Security Service for MFPs and printers seamless. Please contact your NBM sales representative to learn more about the Sharp Data Security Suite and Sharp/ConnectWise Print Security Service.