Security is an extremely crucial factor for hardcopy devices such as printers and multifunction printers, which handle sensitive information including user data. As printers are one of the very few office devices that sit at the cross-section of digital and analog – creating hardcopies of documents from softcopies and vice versa – they require additional considerations from a security perspective.
“Users, for example, worry about their print-outs. With network printers, there’s a possibility that somebody may take a glimpse of their confidential documents while users are on their way to pick up their copies,” said Han. “Pull printing solutions, where users have to tap their ID cards before the devices to print their copies, is one of the many security solutions Samsung offers to mitigate user concerns.”
On the other hand, customers also worry over the possibility of softcopy information leakage over the printer network. Considering that printers are network devices operating 24 hours a day, it is likely that the devices will be exposed to intrusions.