Companies blind to printer security risks

Most companies underestimate printer-based information leaks

A new survey by Samsung has uncovered what it claims is an alarming lack of security awareness among UK workers when it comes to printing documents.

Just under half of all employees are regularly exposed to sensitive data, such as a document abandoned on a printer, and Samsung warned that awareness of the issues this presents must be improved.

Around 14 per cent of respondents admitted seeing salary details, 22 per cent had seen performance appraisals and 34 per cent had seen CV information.

Samsung's poll of 4,500 European office workers found that many are not aware of any printing security processes or technologies in place at their company to prevent printer-based information leaks.

UK organisations which deal in a large number of sensitive documents, such as the banking and finance sector, saw the most incidences of data exposure, with 40 per cent claiming to have seen sensitive documents on the print tray.

Samsung warned that eight in 10 UK respondents were not aware that printers store all recent documents on an easy to remove hard drive, while over three-quarters did not know that a networked printer is as easily hacked as a PC.

"The potential for security breaches is vast, and can only be overcome if employees are educated about the pitfalls of leaving abandoned documents, and with the help of a controlled printing process," said Geoff Slaughter, director of Samsung Print in the UK.