28,000 printers were hacked. ATO had something to say about it.
A recent experiment from the folks at CyberNews showed just how easy it could be to infiltrate your home or office printer. We have all heard and understand the importance of utilizing proper antivirus, anti-malware, and VPNs to protect our devices – But what about our printer? Printers? Yes, PRINTERS!
The full scope of this experiment was massive – With 27,944 printers being targeted by the Security Team at CyberNews. The details on how these sneaky hackers were able to accomplish this tall task can be found HERE. And while that information seems interesting, the real story comes from how your business can take measures to make sure you are not caught in the crosshairs of a hacker who is looking for more than an experiment.
Regional Sales Manager, Jim Blenderman, sat down and explained how Atlantic, Tomorrow’s Office would ensure that we always put our best effort forward to prevent this from happening to your business.
With Atlantic’s holistic approach, our organization would put you in a position where all possible cyber threats, financial exposure from outdated technology, and areas of opportunity to make your employees productive are all brought to your attention for a strategic discussion. In this particular case, Atlantic would conduct a security assessment on your environment to uncover possible threats just like the printers in this article. Because so many printers are left with open ports, this poses a security risk to your organization where things like financial information and customer information could wind up on the market for the highest bidder. In addition, ransomware or corporate espionage could also take place. Atlantic would make sure that your attack surface is minimized, and only mission-critical apps and services have access to your printers. There could also be a hard drive on the printers themselves that contain sensitive information. We would put protocols in place that would provide for either wiping this information or regularly changing the hard drive. These recommendations, along with many others, would be delivered in a collaborative discussion where Atlantic and your executive team work together on the business’ goals.
Jim Blenderman, Regional Sales Manager – ATO
The security of your network, data, and office equipment is paramount and can lead to tremendous downtime and financial loss if you ever fall victim to a cyber-attack. As Jim explains, Atlantic takes a holistic approach when assessing our clients’ needs in regards to Managed Services. Whether it be Managed Print, Document Management, Managed IT, or Managed Security, our team takes a detailed look at your process and builds a comprehensive plan to optimize your efficiencies and cost savings.
As we have shifted to a more remote or hybrid setting in the workplace, the risk of a security breach is more and more prevalent. Our home networks are not built under the same scrutiny and precaution as the offices which we vacated months ago. As we begin to shift back to a normal schedule, many companies are opting to remain in some remote capacity. This brings a new need for additional security and hardware that can help to keep employees productive and efficient throughout their day.
As the needs and overall trends of the modern office change, so will the opportunity for hackers and cybercriminals. Atlantic is poised to provide top-level Managed Services with the same holistic approach that will protect our clients across all aspects of their business.
See how your business stacks up and CLICK HERE to complete our assessment and have an Atlantic Representative build your plan TODAY!
