The Windows Print Spooler Service is, by design, vulnerable to attack. The recent Microsoft “PrintNightmare” breach demonstrated how remote, mobile or internal systems can be compromised and exploited, enabling attackers to remotely execute privileged file operations. An attacker taking advantage of this vulnerability can perform actions like installing programs; accessing, changing, or deleting data; or creating new accounts that have full user rights. This presents a serious danger to your company’s privileged data. Microsoft has released security patches to address this vulnerability. But how can you protect your corporate network in the future?

Prevent a future Print Spooler Service attack with TIG

TIG offers a range of solution that can help you identify and prevent Print Spooler Services breaches.

1. Secure Operations Center Make sure you are notified when malicious programs are being installed and files are being modified on your system. TIG’s Machine Learning and 24x7 Security Analysts can offer a range of options to ensure you’re notified of suspicious activity that requires inspection and analysis

2. End-Point Detection Solutions Identify when malicious code is being installed. Work with TIG’s End-Point Detection Solutions to potentially block and prevent this activity from occurring.

3. Network Access Control Be in the driver’s seat of your network’s access control. Prevent hosts from joining a potentially compromised or unpatched network. Our TIG solutions experts can build a properly configured network access control system.

4. Zero-Trust Architecture Ensure your infrastructure is protected by implementing a zero-trust architecture approach. This will protect against unknown vulnerabilities by limiting systems access to relevant job functions/applications.

5. Security & Risk Assessments Don’t wait for an attack to uncover vulnerabilities in your systems. Be proactive with TIG Security & Risk Assessments to determine the risk of zero-day exploits and the impact on your environment. An assessment will provide you with the information you need to justify security spend and improve your company’s overall security posture.

Few people think about printing as part of a Digital Transformation effort. Here’s why you should. #managedprint #digitaltransformation

The Impact of Digital Transformation on Printing
Increasing customer value by rethinking your print environment

When business leaders talk about Digital Transformation, they often talk about the kind of technologies that generate headlines, like AI, block chain, or predictive analytics. But often the most important transformations feature technologies that rarely make headlines, technologies that most employees use every day. Like printers.

While printing behavior has changed dramatically in recent years, few businesses are getting close to going paperless. From contracts to marketing and sales materials, printed materials remain an essential part of the daily workflow for many businesses. And, like other technologies, printing devices and materials are constantly being improved by manufacturers to incorporate new security features, new networking protocols and new data access and reporting capabilities. Just keeping pace with the changes and opportunities that impact your business can be challenging enough, but Digital Transformation challenges us all to do more.

How Print Network Improvements Deliver Customer Value
If "Digital Transformation" seems like a vague idea, you're not alone. People have used it to mean anything from "moving to the cloud" to deploying whatever the latest and greatest technology is that's being promoted for your industry. But the idea behind Digital Transformation is more fundamental than rolling out new technology. It means streamlining and updating your corporate workflows and culture to utilize technologies that improve the value delivered to customers.

Because every business is unique, Digital Transformation is unique to every business. Depending on how your business uses print in your daily workflows, Digital Transformation for print can generate value in several ways.

1. Streamlining business workflows to serve customers faster. Business processes that rely on print often also rely on distributing printed materials to stakeholders and decision-makers, which takes time. Modern print systems can be leveraged to send print jobs to remote offices, or even just across the building, in ways that can cut decision-making or sign-off cycles by hours or even days.
2. Lower-cost color, size and premium materials. New printing inks, formats and paper types are continually improving the quality and professionalism of customer-facing products, and adding value to customer products. In the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry, for example, low-cost color printing has been shown to reduce change orders stemming from misread drawings and schematics.
3. Reducing costs that can be passed on to customers. Companies that adopt Managed Print Services are typically saving from 20-30% on the cost of printing. When these reductions in cost can be passed on to customers, you're generating value for customers, which is the heart of Digital Transformation.
4. Safeguarding customer data. It's no secret that customer data has become a high-value target for hackers, and print networks have emerged as a weak link in the corporate fire wall . If your networked printers are out of date, upgrading them to more effectively protect your customer's data is an important improvement in delivering value to your customers.

How Print Network Improvements Deliver Customer Value
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Cutting Costs and Increasing Sustainability with Managed Print

Saving Energy, Cut Supply Costs, Reduce Paper and Electronic Waste

It's no secret that printing can be costly for a business, both in terms of printing supplies and generating waste. In an age of increasing concern for sustainable business practices, it's nice to know that going green with your printing practices can also leave more green in your wallet. Advances in energy efficiency, recycling programs and printer management can help you save cash while also helping save the planet.

Over the past decade, printer manufacturers like HP that offer Energy Star certified product and have improved energy efficiency in HP LaserJet printers up to 56%, are passing those savings directly to customers. Reductions in materials used in printers, and an increase in the use of recycled materials, also reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing. Through all phases of development, HP works hard to deliver a high-quality printing system that not only meets the needs of your busy office, but also helps maintain your indoor air quality.

How Printer Upgrades can Save You Money

When it comes time to upgrade to a new printer, recycling programs further minimize the impact of electronic waste. HP offers periodic programs for managing printers at their end of life, including buyback programs for retired devices, recycling programs to manage asset disposal, donation programs for printers that still have some use left, and trade in programs that let you trade any brand of printer toward the purchase of a new HP printer. These programs run for a limited time, but we can help you identify and access available programs when the time is right.

Since every action can make a difference, if you're managing a business with a lot of printing, updating your network can make a big impact. As we discussed in a recent post about the trend toward Managed Print Services, fast-growing businesses routinely find themselves at some point with sprawling printer networks that include a number of outdated, less secure and less efficient printers distributed throughout the business. Taming the sprawl is usually an investment in security and print efficiency, and improved workplace sustainability can be a substantial benefit.

Using Managed Print Services to Optimize Your Print Network

The solution for getting a print network under control with Managed Print Services usually starts with an inventory of print assets, a study of workplace printing needs and practices, and an improved map to allocate the right mix of workgroup, desktop and multifunction printers to maximize user efficiency. To improve security and reduce the cost of management, it typically makes sense to centralize on one brand and printer operating system to eliminate unnecessary complexities.

As these changes are made, the benefits of energy efficiency, improved materials, recycling and trade-in programs across the printer network all add up to a more substantial savings in cost, and in environmental impact. Add to that the use of environmentally responsible papers and paper recycling, and businesses that produce a lot of printing can generate significant savings while also improving network security and workplace efficiency.

If you have an office print ecosystem that has grown out of control, we can help you tame it. We'll assess your current network and work with you to design a system with significant improvements in security, efficiency and sustainability, while helping you cut costs with more effective print management and use of supplies. To find out how to get started