Recently, after doing some online shopping, I received a text message on my phone: “Delivery is scheduled but shipping costs need to be paid.” Included in the message was a link, which gave me pause. The courier listed was the same as the shipping method of the seller, and everything looked authentic. But still…
With the opportunity to shop globally and the incredible prices for some items from a certain Chinese company, we sometimes face customs fees. But in this particular case, I happened to know that that the site always includes all costs. So to satisfy my curiosity, I typed the URL into an incognito window on my laptop where it immediately told me the site is not secure. Had I clicked this link on my phone, that same message would perhaps not have been displayed and may have resulted in password theft, access to bank accounts etc.
When all the information looks authentic, or when we’re hurriedly completing transactions on mobile devices, it’s easy to make a mistake. Recently, a family member got a notification that his bank card needed to be replaced. He just had to click the link to initiate the process of issuing a new card. He was about to click the button when he realized that he had no account at the bank in question.
There have always been these attempts to get access to accounts and to steal from people, but online scams and phishing activity have increased a lot during the pandemic. Perhaps the wrongdoers have more time now or maybe their victims are less suspicious. Who knows? What we do know is that it all starts with access to certain data by unauthorized individuals.
The importance of data protection in corporate environments
Data protection has always been a big topic in IT environments, and LRS has made a business out of providing secure printing and scanning solutions for our customers. Through our acquisitions of companies like Capella, Cirrato, and Drivve, we have been able to quickly incorporate advanced technologies into the MFPsecure/Print and MFPsecure/Scan products for improved document security. Using secure pull print, the risk of printed documents being seen by someone other than the document ‘owner’ is essentially zero, since the recipient has to physically be at the device to release the print job. For both printing and scanning processes, data is transmitted securely between devices and platforms using end-to-end encryption that minimizes security risks. Or at least it was true when employees were working in office buildings connected to the corporate network. But as we know, a lot has changed in the past year.
Changing times, changing requirements
Recently, LRS has introduced a way to securely access and transmit data using a public or personal Internet connection rather than one inside the corporate firewall. This gives administrators control over secure printing, regardless of Internet connection type – all without compromising security. But in turn, the need for data security and protection cannot limit employees when it comes to executing print jobs from locations other than the office. That is why LRS developers worked on a number of enhancements to our software that make up what we call ‘LRS Internet Printing’.
Internet Printing lets employees print business data as if they were on the corporate network, all without a complicated and expensive VPN infrastructure. This includes the ability to work with business-critical data from SAP applications or EMR systems in healthcare environments. Any process involving print or scan is managed and documented to ensure a complete audit trail. Company policies related to printing – if in place – can be enforced just as if all print devices were inside the firewall. Likewise, when scanning documents from a remote site, the exact same options are available as they would be in the actual office. Remote employees can literally work from anywhere and access company data at any time. If you want to learn more, please have a look at the video or register for one of our webinar sessions here.
To finish my story of sketchy e-commerce: I emailed the seller to let them know that they might have a data breach, but I never heard back from them. That concerns me, as I know how seriously LRS would treat a similar customer report of a potential security issue. Likewise, we know that our customers rely on LRS software to protect the security of their own customers’ data. Especially in these times when users can be working anytime, from anywhere, and with countless network connection methods, it pays to be careful.