How seriously do you take security? According to an insurance expert, small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) need to prepare themselves “for cyber battle.” In the UK alone, data losses cost companies US$43 million per year. In 2016, criminals breached 50 percent of all American SMBs.

Fortunately, SMBs are not powerless to fight back. If you know your enemy – and the tech solutions that can help – you can bolster the defenses of your office IT solutions, including your printing network.

1. Software Safety

Most printing networks are internet-connected and route through PCs and multi-function printer (MFP) hard drives. Unfortunately, many software-based attacks can affect your hard drives. That is why shoring up your apps and hardware is a good idea.

Luckily, keeping your printing network safe from software-based attacks and closing security holes can be relatively straightforward.

Choosing the right manufacturer is important. Samsung MFPs protect your data with sophisticated encryption technology like the AES-128 standard, safeguarding user credentials, audits, logs, prints, scans, emails and faxes. PC-to-printer (and printer-to-PC) data transfers are also encrypted with the IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, two versions of the underlying technology that allows devices like printers to communicate with one another over internet-connected networks. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transfers are encrypted, too – great news for safety-conscious businesses.

The Smart UX Center, the Android-powered interface that lets you customize many of Samsung’s MFPs, also provides software solutions that further strengthen your defenses. These include the Smart Security Manager app, which lets IT admins customize security profiles fast, checking printers’ security status via an uncluttered, user-friendly interface. The Smart Update app lets you automatically download the latest firmware updates for your printing devices – bolstering your network against newer threats.

2. Illegal Insiders

According to a 2016 survey of 874 insider attacks, 22 percent of breaches are carried out by company insiders. When threats can be internal, as well as external, you need to be certain that your company’s sensitive data stays in safe hands.

Fortunately, Samsung’s pull-printing solutions only release printouts to authorized users, so your confidential information does not sit idly in printer trays, ready for unauthorized parties to access.

The Printing Security Core solution enables pull-printing with one-touch registration, granting employees secure access to your printing network. Furthermore, Samsung affiliate PrinterOn has a range of pull-printing offerings to let you customize your security settings across a range of platforms. PrinterOn’s combined pull-printing solution allows for secure printing. It also offers tracking and management options for your print workflows – on both mobile devices and desktops.

3. Social Engineering Threats

Social engineering is another rapidly developing cyber-danger, and one expert claims it could pose the year’s biggest security threat. This relatively new phenomenon is not to be taken lightly.

Social engineering attackers tend to pose as trusted individuals and attempt to trick your employees into disclosing sensitive information. While the best weapon you can use to fight back against such threats is vigilance, advanced monitoring and tighter security are also important.

With real-time monitoring solutions, you can see who is accessing your printing devices and when they are doing so. This means IT admins are the first to know if something suspicious is happening to the network.

The Secure Login Core, meanwhile, helps make logging in safe. Secure Login Core enables authentication via PIN, proximity cards, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or Active Near Field Communication (NFC) for smartphones. This means that even if criminals trick their way past your staff, they will not be able to access your printing network, or the valuable data stored within.

If your data, hard drives and printouts remain off-limits, your company information stays uncompromised – safeguarding against some of the most dangerous cyber-threats around.