Industry Voices—The hidden security threat most hospitals haven't thought of yet

There is a huge network threat that most people aren’t aware of: Today’s printers present greater security risks than traditional servers, desktops and laptops. What most do not appreciate, or have ignored, is that printers have evolved from being “dummy copiers” into today’s complex business machines that include servers built directly into them. The competition among printer manufacturers has driven the inclusion of web servers, file transfer protocol (FTP) servers, fax servers, huge hard drives and many other advanced capabilities. Yet printers, unlike standalone servers, are maintained outside of data centers without physical and technical safeguards and controls. They are managed by nonsecurity, non‐IT professionals and are not included in IT policies and procedures.