SAFE PRINT
The new legislation that promotes the security and privacy of printed documents has created an alert to how printed documents have to be cured, stored and cared for. Although many companies still don’t understand all the ramifications of the data protection laws, it’s important to realize that both printed and digital documents need to be managed with great caution and security.
In fact, the data protection laws clearly states that both printed and digital documents data have to be treated with extreme care, respecting the privacy of each individual Citizen, especially when it comes to sensible data. The concept of safe printing and data protection laws have become important to avoid data leakage of confidential information of customers, business partners, patients and citizens in general.
WHAT’S SAFE PRINT?
Safe print is essentially to create a printing environment in your company where only the “owner” of the printing job will have access to that particular document. It’s common to see in companies printers filled with documents that were forgotten and, most likely, could have sensible data printed on them. That’s when safe print comes in! Once safe print is implemented, all the printed jobs are withheld in the print server and can only be accessed when the user (owner of the document) goes physically to the printer and authenticates himself or herself through a RFID reader that’s connected to the printer. This method of document security is also called “secure printing”.
In order to create a safe print environment in your company you first need to buy a billing software such as papercut, NDD, Print Audit, Lexmark Print Admin, Xerox Workplace suite, Epson Print Admin and so forth. Once you the IT department has the billing software installed, it’s time to plug the RFID reader or fingerprint reader into the USB port of the printer. With that in place, the user will need to authenticate himself or herself with a credential.
By having the user authenticate himself or herself on the printer with a RFID card or his/her fingerprint, the company is embracing fully the concept of safe print and will ensure that the documents will only be released to the person to whom it belongs. Can you imagine the damage that could happen if someone from HR prints a health-related document of an employee and that document sits on the printer for anyone to see. Considering how strict the new data protection laws are, an incident like that could easily lead to the company being sued by the employee whose health condition was exposed. In other words, safe print is the best way to ensure that documents with confidential information don’t fall into the wrong hands.
HOW TO CREATE A SAFE PRINT ENVIRONMENT IN YOUR COMPANY?
As previously mentioned, in order to create a safe print environment in your company you’ll need to have all your printing device to run a billing software that is compatible with RFID or fingerprint readers. Once the billing software is installed, it’s fairly simple to add the fingerprint or RFID reader to the USB port of the equipment to create a safe print or security printing. Those are general guidelines to implement security printing in your company.
DMZ Connection is company certified by the ISO 9001:2015 that manufactures RFID and fingerprint readers for safe printing projects. Whether you are a managed print service provider or an end user, we are here to serve you with great products and excellent service.