Summary: The Business Case in Brief
The new European NIS2 Directive (Network and Information Security) imposes stricter requirements on companies in essential sectors (energy, transport, healthcare, digital infrastructure). Many IT managers focus on servers and firewalls, but forget the endpoints: the printers and plotters. An unsecured plotter is an open door for hackers. If your company must be NIS2 compliant, your print fleet must also meet strict security standards. HP Wolf Security on the DesignJet (e.g., the XL 3600 MFP) and PageWide XL series offers the necessary features to demonstrate compliance.
The Challenge: Printers as IoT Devices
A modern large format printer is a fully-fledged computer. It has:
- A hard drive (which stores confidential construction plans).
- An operating system (BIOS/Firmware).
- A network card (which has access to your internal company network).
Hackers often use printers as a “stepping stone” to get deeper into the network (lateral movement). Under NIS2, you are obliged to perform risk analyses on all connected devices.
The Solution: HP Wolf Security Features
To comply with NIS2, you must take “appropriate technical and organizational measures”. HP helps with this:
- HP Sure Start: The only printer BIOS that heals itself after an attack. It checks the integrity of the code at every boot.
- Whitelisting: Only trusted firmware is allowed to run.
- Run-time Intrusion Detection: The printer monitors its own memory while running and sounds the alarm in case of anomalies.
- Authentication: Prints are only released after the user identifies themselves with a badge or PIN code (Pull Printing).
Business Fundamentals: Liability
Under NIS2, directors can be held personally liable for negligence in the field of cybersecurity. Fines can reach up to 10 million euros or 2% of the global turnover. Ignoring printer security is a risk that no management board can afford to take anymore.
Media & Supplies
Security does not stop at the hardware. The hardcopy output must also be protected. Provide Pull Printing solutions so that confidential documents do not remain unattended in the output tray.
Europlan Service: Security Audit
Do you doubt whether your current printer fleet complies with NIS2? Europlan performs a Security Assessment. We check firmware versions, open ports, password policies, and encryption settings. You will receive a report with recommendations to lock down your plotters.
Conclusion: Secure the Entire Chain
Cybersecurity is only as strong as its weakest link. Ensure your plotters don’t become a backdoor for criminals.
Do you want to know if you are compliant?