What steps is Brother taking to secure its printers and other connected devices?
Besides our own internal testing, we also work with outside security consultants to evaluate our products. We also follow all the latest laws regarding connected and IoT devices and update our products to meet any new regulations.
Speaking of the products, first and foremost, Brother’s printers are intentionally designed without hard drives so that they do not retain any data within the device after an action is performed. On so many other printers, anyone with a thumb drive could walk by and upload whatever documents had recently been processed; far too many businesses spend enormous amounts of money protecting data when it’s on servers, and then leave it totally exposed on printers.
Furthermore, Brother printers have IP filters that can restrict or grant access to a user based on their IP address, automatically blocking unauthorized requests without the proper credentials. We offer password and PIN protection to safeguard customers’ sensitive information, and also ensure compliance with all 20 CIS controls.
But, hardware is only half the picture for Brother when it comes to device security. How the product is installed and maintained is equally important. For large enterprises, that usually means the Brother team or its authorized channel partner visits its customers onsite, assesses their setup and needs, then works with the customer to tailor IT operations for maximum usability and workflow as well as security.