Commentary by: Edmund Jacobs, Product Manager for Production Print at Konica Minolta South Africa
What are your key network security best practices?
Bizhub Secure
All Konica Minolta devices come with a set of standard features called Bizhub Secure. Hard drive encryption, Administrator access, user login, and visual (the control panel immediately shows if a device is security activated or not) and digital notification features, for instance: an email is sent to the Administrator informing them that a security breach has occurred. By activating these security protocols, the Konica Minolta multifunctional device will not be an entry gate to your businesses network. Konica Minolta has aims to set itself apart from the industry through features such as these.
How can a business tackle the evolving cyber threat landscape with cyber resilience in mind?
Businesses in South Africa need to be hypervigilant about security breaches. These can come from a multitude of sources, even your printing devices! For example, malware can be planted via mobile phones, thumb drive, multifunctional printers and almost anything that is plugged into your network can be used as medium to deploy (malware). Businesses need to employ passive entry into their device-linked networks.
For the clients of Konica Minolta, we actively address passive entry to our network via the multifunctional devices through to the Bizhub Secure protocols (mentioned above). We also target active threats through antivirus software installed on the device such as Bitdefender.
Creating a secure and resilient IT infrastructure reduces the risk of cyber-attacks and their associated financial losses. For example, we have introduced Bitdefender Antivirus Software to our devices, in order to tackle active software virus attacks on our clients’ network.
Is Zero Trust achievable?
Yes, Zero Trust is achievable through an internet process called Whitelisting. This is when all accesses to all websites are blocked and only access is given to trusted listed websites. Most clients request Zero Trust protocols for their servers, devices etc. – the Konica Minolta MFP has features that caters for this need by blocking network ports.
When data is received by the MFP it is immediately encrypted, disabling the hacker’s ability to read or gain data via their Phishing expeditions.
Zero Trust is also a passive response to a Security attack on your network, which makes it difficult to communicate with businesses and people that you “trust” but are flagged due to not meeting certain protocols or key elements that has flagged them.
The best method would be an active response to threats, that gives you access to all communications. However, still have Active Malware prevention software and activated network security protocols that actively stop, and quarantine threats when they occur.
Which policies, methodologies and procedures are appropriate to put in place?
Itis imperative to do the best that you can to protect your business against a multitude of security threats. All physical equipment and access to devices needs to be considered.
Start with easy security measures:
- Ensure that everyone that is on your premises is identified, anyone that enters your premises can gain access.
- Ensure that you change your Wi-Fi access passwords on a regular basis.
- Try and run your network access to the public (visitors and contractors) on a separate network – ensuring that your main network runs independently and is secured.
- Make sure that Bizhub Secure is activated on your multifunctional device.
- Activate 24hour HDD (Hard Drive Disc) formatting on your device to clear any encrypted jobs or information that the multifunctional device might have stored.
- Ensure that IP filtering is activated (limiting access to only users that are registered on your network)
- Activate software like Bitdefender for multifunctional devices.
Where does ML, IoT and automation fit in?
Almost everything that we utilise can be interfaced or communicated with or via internet protocols. Unfortunately, everything that can be interfaced via the internet is subject to access vulnerabilities.
It is for this reason that you need to be observant. Do not use public internet access points without ensuring that the connection is secure.
Mobile devices have become the key access point to people’s information, becoming the most common point of planned and unplanned cyber-attacks.
Hackers have gone as far as using charging bays at public points such as airports and coffee shops to deploy malware, giving them access to your whole mobile device and or any other device from that connection onward.
The best practice is to only trust secured access points.
Make sure that connection protocols such as blue tooth and Wi-Fi hot spotting is switched off and only used when needed. Hackers are creating new method such as brute force communication hacking to gain access to you phone irrespective of passwords and security features (fingerprint and retina scanning) is activated.
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