Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. has announced its recommended layered security approach for customers that operate the company's bizhub MFPs and other print devices to help protect organizations of all sizes from today's increasing cybercrime threats that can halt operations, incur millions of dollars in expenses and ruin business reputations.

Recent studies show the global average data breach cost in 2023 has risen to $4.45 million – a 15% increase over the last three years. Additionally, the increase in hybrid workforces over the last few years and the associated types of office, laptop, mobile and remote devices connected to business networks and the internet has made it more important than ever to protect users and a company's customers from malware and other threats at every endpoint.

Because new threats appear constantly and smaller businesses don't often have expert IT help on staff, Konica Minolta is strongly advising customers that operate the company's MFPs and other print devices to protect help protect themselves with additional layers of security solutions, all based on each customer's and their industry's needs.

"Security is particularly critical for customers operating in health care, education, financial and retail environments, where documents, payment details and data privacy must be protected by law or organizations risk severe penalties and other remediation costs," said Chris Bilello, vice president, business solutions development, Konica Minolta. "Konica Minolta already puts its products through rigorous internal cybersecurity tests to protect systems and make sure they meet regulations such as PCI, HIPAA, FERPA, GDPR and many more. But with so many threat vectors in an increasingly digital world, and with the rise in cyberattacks worldwide, we're urging our customers to consider additional layers of protection."

IT departments at many organizations may not have the ability to ensure machine security across all devices, so automated security capabilities can significantly reduce risk — including potential security breaches that can happen inside an organization with unauthorized users at an MFP. Konica Minolta addresses these risks with tools such as hard drive lock passwords, hard drive encryption, automatic deletion of temporary image data and data overwrite of electronic documents on a timed basis. Konica Minolta's layered security solutions include:

bizhub SECURE family of entry-level services — Includes enhanced password and data security protection, as well as advanced encryption for data in transit and at rest in the MFP. Users are only able to access the MFP with a password that is locked and stored to protect access to documents.

bizhub SECURE Notifier — Allows an organization to receive alerts in real time to protect their bizhub SECURE settings and offers a multitude of password safeguards. Embedded antivirus and malware protection checks for incoming, outgoing and data at rest and sends alerts for security issues.

Antivirus and malware protection powered by BitDefender — Enables the MFP to scan for viruses as data is received and before outbound transmission. Checks for incoming, outgoing and data at rest in the MFP that could contain malware, which can include viruses, Trojan horses, ransomware and spyware. BitDefender is a worldwide leader in cybersecurity, offering real-time device protection, 24/7.

Shield Guard — Takes protection to another level by providing anywhere, anytime access to make monitoring and managing the security of an entire print fleet faster and easier. A single dashboard delivers instant notifications and alerts to enable immediate action if security vulnerabilities are detected, ensuring industry compliance.

Dispatcher Paragon+ — Delivers enhanced security measures plus a consolidated view of an organization's entire print, copy, fax and scan operations to help boost productivity. This advanced document workflow solution provides secure pull print across an entire fleet of devices and single sign-on (SSO) multifactor authentication.

Dispatcher Phoenix — Securely captures, processes and distributes documents to help increase business productivity and efficiency, drive collaboration and reduce costs. This advanced, intelligent document workflow supports digital workflows with email or fax capture, streamlines print and scan activities and its centralized management interface requires little to no technical expertise.

"All these levels of protection are available now and with the increase in sophisticated cybersecurity threats that organizations are facing, we hope customers will consider added security to make sure their operations are safeguarded," Bilello said. "But Konica Minolta is a forward-thinking company, so we're constantly updating and putting new measures in place to protect our customers and their customers — we're not stopping here."