HP Inc. has announced that it has joined the Buyers Lab (BLI) Security Validation Testing program for MFPs and printers to help drive more stringent industry standards for printer security.
Common endpoint devices such as office printers have proven to be serious security weak spots for organizations of all sizes in recent years, chiefly due to modern printers being produced with various forms of in-built connectivity, without the same sophistication of security to go with it. Printers have therefore become an attractive target for cyber-attackers looking for an easy foot into corporate networks.
The BLI Security Validation Testing program was designed to verify printers that pass through its program,so that they are equipped to combat the increasingly sophisticated threat landscape, thus helping to establish standards so customers can select the best options for their desired security posture.
“Our decision to engage in this testing program is driven by our desire to help raise the bar for the entire industry,” said Tuan Tran, president, imaging, printing and solutions business, HP Inc. “We believe more can and should be done to mitigate security risks. This is an important step in driving more stringent industry standards for IoT devices, like printers, and pushing our industry to a higher standard. We encourage all our industry counterparts to join in this effort.”
As an inaugural participant of the BLI Security Validation Testing program, HP has passed the first two rounds of testing and earned the Security Validation Testing seals for Device Penetration and Policy Compliance for its HP FutureSmart v4 Enterprise firmware platform.
The news comes a year-and-a-half after HP Inc. became the first company to launch a bug bounty scheme dedicated to printing services, offering rewards of up to $10,000 for researchers who correctly report vulnerabilities in its printing technology.