New vulnerabilities are discovered every single day. Microsoft, Adobe, Google and other big tech and software companies are always on the lookout for security issues with their products and communicating those issues to the public at large.
If you have a good IT Support and security team, they are on the hunt for these releases to ensure they’re applied to your network so that a cybercriminal wouldn’t be able to get in so easily (choosing someone else to attack because you’ve got your ducks in a row).
Note: more often than not, most hospital IT teams don’t get around to patching—not that they don’t think it’s important, but because other hot items keep moving up to the top of the list—things immediately preventing someone from working—say a computer in the ER, a lab computer that won’t connect or billing having a problem with scans.
For whatever reason (and there are many) basic patching can make or break your security. And even if you’ve invested in top notch equipment, it might make or break your hospital when it comes to a cyberattack attempt.
If you’re concerned about the basics, consider a free ransomware vulnerability assessment to see if hackers are still able to easily get into your network.
But for now, let’s assume that you have network maintenance and monitoring covered—at least the basics of it.
Are you still vulnerable to attacks?
New research reveals that some old problems are creeping back up—especially on complex hospital network environments.
And it starts with printers.
Despite the many warnings and on-going efforts by security teams to harden up security around printers, they continue to be a ripe target for cyber attackers.
In the past 3 months, handfuls of security experts have revealed proof-of-concept attacks showing that all sorts of printers were vulnerable to attacks. Hackers are actually able to compromise your entire network simply by targeting a printer. And many of these printers—even though the manufacturers have released patches or updates—continue to print without having a single patch applied.
In fact, printing devices have gotten so bad that some cybersecurity experts consider printers the Achilles Heel for network management. Just like computers and servers, they sit on the network like any other endpoint. But more often than not, they don’t get the slightest attention to even get noticed as major cybersecurity threats to IT teams.
In one recent study sponsored by Hewlett Packard, over half of HP printers in production in healthcare did not have patches properly applied. And nearly the same amount of organizations did not understand or realize that printers could ever have been a risk to their hospital.
The fact of the matter is that too often no one cares enough about printers because they’ve got bigger fish to fry with other aspects of the network. As long as they can reliably connect to PCs and laptops and are able to print, most folks set them and forget them. But at the end of the day, what is a printer? An endpoint just like any PC. Many are Wi-Fi enabled or hardwired with an IP address and a network card. You should be concerned about them just as much as other devices.
Think of printers as the original IoT (Internet of Things) devices. They have the very same security issues you’re likely combating with cell phones and devices willy-nilly connecting to your network without any validation.
How can you address your printer security problem?
Aging printers aren’t getting much needed security patches. And newer cloud-friendly printers are growing attack vectors to more sophisticated attacks. What you need as part of your printer management is the ability to detect vulnerabilities and track updates to each printer’s firmware. If your IT Support has no clue whether patches have been applied, they likely have never been applied and you’re keeping the doors wide open to an attack.
Keep in mind: there are all sorts of printer security risks.
Ranging from device mis-configuration, to print job manipulation, unauthorized access of print data and man in the middle cloud attacks, printer risks range the gamut of security risks your network faces.
Hackers could also compromise your printer and use it as an attack vector to infect the rest of your network, monitor network activity of specific users, or even steal information.
You’d probably never have thought that something that does a job as simple as printing a document could be so risky.
Concerned about vulnerabilities on your network? Contact us TODAY for a free ransomware vulnerability assessment.
