NEW: Canon Adds Copier/Printer Security Features

With today’s complex networked copiers and printers acting as full-blown servers, security has never been more important. Basic password protection is simply not enough.

That’s why Canon has just released a new firmware platform with additional printer security features for the imageRUNNER ADVANCE line of copiers and multifunction printers (MFPs).

This latest Canon copier security update (Unified Firmware Platform Version 3.9) expands on decades of security focus and is designed to further enhance the level of protection for both your equipment and your network.

Canon copier security from the get-go

Every day when you start up your equipment, you probably assume all is as it should be in your copier/printer configuration and setup. But, wouldn’t you like to know for sure?

The Canon firmware update adds automatic system verification at startup — checking to make sure that all the system code and applications have not been tampered with or altered.

This capability makes it easier to monitor all the devices in your copier/printer fleet. It also makes it harder for anyone to hack the system — alerting you to issues that might indicate unauthorized access or activity has occurred, so you can take corrective action before being compromised.

Tight integration with McAfee for printer security features

Monitoring your copier/printer fleet requires the best security technology available. That’s why Canon copier security now includes integration with the McAfee security platform.

McAfee acts as the gatekeeper on your multifunction printer and maintains and enforces access control lists.

Tight integration between the Canon operating system and McAfee Embedded Control provides whitelisting and file integrity monitoring technology to help you:

• Control system access
• Prevent unauthorized software and configuration changes
• Combat viruses, trojans, spyware, and other targeted malware
• Prevent tampering with firmware and applications
• Detect and prevent potential issues before they have an impact on system security

System monitoring made easy

Today’s complex devices produce logs of all activity, including user IDs, events, system notifications, and audit trails. As part of their built-in printer security, Canon designs their printers as serious networking devices that can be monitored just like other network devices handling sensitive information.

As part of the new Canon copier security update, the latest firmware allows Canon devices to integrate with Security Information Event Management (SIEM) solutions supporting industry protocols. Depending on the solution you choose, you can take advantage of capabilities such as:

• Data aggregation and correlation, with the ability to consolidate system data and turn it into useful, revealing information
• Dashboards that turn data into charts that make it easy to track events and spot patterns
• The ability to automatically gather data and generate reports to satisfy compliance requirements
• System alerts based on automated analyses of correlated events

SIEM integration helps you leverage the value of your Canon device activity logs by making it easier to analyze the system data for patterns and potential issues. For example, the activity might reveal that someone tried to sign-in multiple times in a short period, indicating a possible attempt to hack the system.

Automated certificate updates for data encryption

The same capability that allows users to send jobs to different printers within a network also makes those jobs vulnerable to being intercepted. This could allow someone to access not only the material being printed, but also the associated network data that is valuable to hackers.

Learn more: Printer Security: the Weak Link That Could Take Down Your Network

Beyond password protection of devices, encryption of print traffic is vital to protecting the security and privacy of both the printed materials and the network itself. The trouble is, manually updating the encryption on all the printers in your network can be a tedious task.

That’s why the new Canon security firmware includes automated certificate updates — allowing you to easily keep the encryption up to date on all the printers in your fleet, to save valuable time and help keep your data safe.

For businesses that are not already using the Canon uniFLOW platform for print traffic encryption, automated certificate updates offer a quick and reliable solution.

Ongoing updates and continuous support

With the new firmware update and copier/printer security features, Canon continues to go above and beyond to ensure that your imageRUNNER equipment has a robust level of security on a par with server security.

In addition to making all the compatible models in your fleet consistent, the latest Unified Firmware Platform offers continuous improvements to Canon copier/printer security features.

Whether you handle updates yourself — using a tool such as Canon imageWARE Enterprise Management Console (EMC) — or with the help of expert support such as SOS Managed Print Services, you’ll continue to receive patches and fixes designed to:

• Prevent security breaches
• Improve the level of protection, including for any new issues or threats that may arise
• Enhance the ease of network monitoring, access control, and system management

If you’re in the NYC area and want to learn more about how to boost your copier/printer security, SOS is happy to help. Just contact us, any time.