Is Your Multifunction Printer Secure?

I can still hear my mom yelling at me from the car, “Did you remember to lock the door”. As kids, you learned how to keep your homes safe and now you do the same for your office network. I’m sure you consider security for your computers, servers and networks, but do you consider your multifunction printers (MFPs)? Nowadays most MFPs have built-in processors and hard drives – pretty sophisticated pieces of equipment. Here are three things you should do with your MFP to keep your valuable data safe. 

Change the locks

When buying a house the first rule of thumb is “change your locks”. You never know who has a set of keys. Most multifunction printers come with a factory set password that allows access to all the functions on the MFP. These default passwords are also listed in the user guides and those guides are posted on the Internet for anyone to see. Your office or IT Administrator should reset the factory password when they are setting up the product for the first time.

Keep your doors locked

You’d never leave your house without securing the doors. Restricting access to your MFP is another way to keep your data safe. To authorize use, you can set a password or even install a swipe card system ID badge to serve as the key to unlock the MFP. Or use a simpler scheme where a PIN has to be entered to retrieve documents sent to the MFP. 

Don’t leave anything behind

When you move out of your house you take everything with you and recycle what you don’t need. MFP hard drives should be treated the same way. Hard drives are easily accessible and should be removed at the end of life. During normal operation, you should perform a wipe where all the data on the hard drive is digitally shredded. Never leave any data on the hard drive – especially personal or confidential information.

Keep your MFPs safe just like you do your home. You can read more on MFP security at www.xerox.com/security, share your tips or ask questions here.