HP’s three new enterprise-class LaserJet printers have been characterized as delivering “increased protection against malicious attacks.” The stronger security is part of a broader HP strategy to provide “the deepest security across PCs and printers” said the OEM. “Protecting against security breaches is one of the biggest challenges our customers face,” said Tuan Tran, Vice President and General Manager, LaserJet and Enterprise Solutions Business, HP. “HP is helping customers secure their devices, documents and data by defending our enterprise printers with the strongest protection in the industry.” Printer security is a topic of growing importance. According to the Ponemon Institute, 64% of IT managers believe their printers are likely infected with malware. Despite this, 56% of enterprise companies ignore printers in their security strategy. To help address this gap, HP is delivering its new HP LaserJet Enterprise Printers and Multi-Function Printers (MFPs) with security features built in, including:
- HP Sure Start that enables detection of, and self-healing recovery from, malicious BIOS attacks – thereby extending the same BIOS security protecting HP’s Elite line of PCs since 2013 to its new HP LaserJet Enterprise printers. (BIOS is the firmware that runs while a computer boots up. A BIOS attack infects the BIOS with malicious code and is persistent through reboots and attempts to ‘reflash’ the firmware).
- Whitelisting ensures only known, good firmware can be loaded and executed on a printer.
- Run-time Intrusion Detection is a new feature that provides in-device memory monitoring for malicious attacks.
The new features will be standard on all new HP LaserJet Enterprise printers and OfficeJet Enterprise X printers with HP PageWide Technology. With a firmware update, the three features can also be enabled on several HP LaserJet Enterprise printers available since April of 2015.
In addition, Whitelisting and Run-time Intrusion Detection can be added to many existing HP LaserJet Enterprise printers and OfficeJet Enterprise X printers launched since 2011 through an HP FutureSmart service pack update. FutureSmart is HP firmware that helps protect customers’ investments in HP Enterprise printers by enabling delivery of new capabilities via updates.
The three printers are designed for workgroups of 5 to 15, can print up to 7,500 pages per month, and include:
- The HP LaserJet Enterprise M506 series for monochrome printing with a 25% smaller footprint and dual-sided print speeds up to 71% faster than its predecessor.
- The HP LaserJet Enterprise MFP M527 series, which offers monochrome printing in an MFP that includes single-pass, two-sided scanning, an 8-inch colour touchscreen control panel, and first-page-out speeds up to 33% faster than its predecessor.
- The HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M577 series that delivers colour printing in an MFP that includes single-pass, two-sided scanning, an 8-inch colour touchscreen control panel and optional keyboard, as well as dual-sided print speeds up to 43% faster than its predecessor.
The M506 series will be available October 1, and the M527 and M577 series will be available November 2.