Reinventing security in an increasingly volatile world
By 2020, there will be an estimated 29.5 billion connected devices globally, according to research conducted by IDC. Asia Pacific will be home to 8.6 billion of these devices, and China will be home to one out of every five. These numbers – and their potential impact – are staggering. The digital transformation already happening across Asia Pacific is dependent on the connectivity that the Internet of Things (IoT) offers. IoT will drive efficiencies and enhanced data capturing for more informed decision-making.
But as the universe of connected devices continues to grow, cyberattacks and data breaches increase in tandem. They are progressively more sophisticated, with the ability to cause acute harm to businesses and people alike. They can create financial loss, damage brands and reputations, and diminish confidence in the technology and companies we choose to connect with.
Securing these devices – and the data and identities tied to them – is therefore a major imperative. But doing so is increasingly difficult. Threats will continue to evolve, and due to the reduced effectiveness of firewall protection, every device connected to an organization’s network is at risk. Protecting against security breaches is one of the biggest challenges that organizations face today. The implementation of a process to monitor, detect and report data breaches is not nearly enough. Prevention – and the reduction of the frequency and severity of breaches – is equally important.
Security is a joint responsibility
Security is no longer just the responsibility of network administrators. Every device and user connected to the network is a potential security weakness. Both users and administrators must bear the responsibility of protecting the entire network. In years past, traditional network perimeter security and antivirus programs were sufficient. But that was when we only had access to desktops directly connected to the server.
As organizations increasingly offer more flexible work options, it becomes more important than ever that security solutions are fully integrated at the endpoint device level.
As a global brand determined to reinvent and protect the possibilities technology enables, HP take this very seriously. The company integrated security features into the fabric of the design process of every device created, from PCs to printers, security is builtin not bolted on. This is the company’s thrust to push the industry forward.
Preparing for the inevitable
We will never live in a world without cyber-attacks. And yet, most organizations often overlook the devices that put them most at risk.
HP specifically sought to understand policies, procedures and risk management, and preparedness for the nation’s new data breach notification laws, in which they found out that almost half of all Australian SMBs with an annual turnover of $3M+ do not consider themselves to be prepared for the mandatory data breach disclosure laws that recently came into force. Further: Only 18 percent currently have a compliance policy in place; while 33 percent are currently developing a policy 57 percent of SMBs have not done any sort of IT security risk assessment in the last 12 months, putting their devices, data and documents at risk Of the 43 percent of SMBs that have undertaken a risk assessment, just 29 percent included printers in their analysis
Printers are increasingly an entry point for data breaches. With printers behaving more like PCs every day, it is critical that businesses are confident that these points in their network are secured.
HP has reinvented print security to protect the devices, critical data and identities from the variety of threats they now face. The company designs and ships printers with strong default security settings, providing tools and services to deploy them and providing features to address emerging risks.
Beyond the products they offer , HP has been leading industry discussions on security to get ahead of attackers and threats. That’s the driving motivation for HP to keep reinventing their approach to security, continually delivering the most secure devices on the market and making life better and safer for everyone, everywhere.