Canon Middle East, a leader in imaging and business solutions, recently conducted a printer usage survey among 1000 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) throughout the GCC, which revealed that individuals are prone to confidential data being leaked at the printer tray.

The findings showed that 65 per cent of respondents revealed they have misplaced both confidential personal and corporate documents at the printer tray as they are not aware of secure print features. This clearly highlights most SMEs are in danger of losing critical information that could hamper business growth and the need for users to utilise features that enable them to print documents securely.

In light of this, Canon Middle East, has embarked on a user awareness campaign to enable organisations to educate and equip individuals to securely print documents. Canon’s Universal Login Manager (ULM) and uniFlow solution is designed to address this requirement in the Mena region.

Hendrik Verbrugghe, marketing director, Canon Middle East, said: “Paper records are the most significant source of a data breach, second only to losing a laptop or other data device. Canon has addressed this issue with its unique Universal Login Manager (ULM) solution.

“ULM delivers convenient user authentication through proximity cards or picture logins. With ULM, confidential jobs can be held centrally on a print server and are only released when the user authenticates at the device. The user can go to any device in any location with the knowledge that their job will be printed securely,” he added.

For larger organisations, taking security to the next level is possible with the uniFlow Secure Printing solution. Through this users can send their sensitive documents to network printers and have the job printed only when they are physically standing in front of the printer. This could be a printer on a different floor, building, city or even in a different country.

Also the Swipe and Avatar Login feature, requires users need to swipe their ID, click on their avatar, or enter their user name and password to login. For additional security, a second level of authentication can be implemented by requiring pin code entry after swiping the ID or selecting an avatar.

The Control Access Management, can secure organisation printers from unauthorised usage and control usage rights based on user roles. For example, for employees who print a lot of unnecessary colour documents, restrict printing to black and white duplex. Employees who handle sensitive documentation can have scanning rights removed to increase security of these documents. – TradeArabia News Service