7 Ways to Secure Document Management in the COVID-19 Era

A surprising number of cybersecurity incidents are caused by inadvertent employee actions. While most of these mishaps may seem small, the consequences can be damaging. Gabriela Garner, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Kofax, outlines seven ways a robust document print and capture solution delivers the highest level of protection.

Have you ever found a document containing confidential client information left in the tray of your office printer? Or have you taken a document out to shred it, only to toss it into the regular trash when you got preoccupied with other paperwork? You’re not alone. A surprising number of cybersecurity incidents are caused by inadvertent employee actions – including leaving private, printed documents unattended. And while mishaps like these may seem small, their consequences can be severe.

Cyberthreats to business documents continue to rise, with 68% of businesses saying they experienced a data breach in the past 12 months, according to a recent Ponemon Institute surveyOpens a new window . Of these respondents, 69% said at least one breach involved the loss or theft of paper documents or electronic devices containing sensitive information. Those statistics boil down to one key point, document security is a serious business.

However, many organizations don’t take precautions to improve document security. Only 45% of the Ponemon survey’s respondents work for an organization that has a process in place to dispose of sensitive documents. Less than 30% said their organizations automatically restrict printing from specific devices or specific files.

Businesses can’t afford to ignore document security: in 2020, the average cost of a data breach was $3.86 million, according to IBMOpens a new window . Fortunately, there are simple and intuitive print and capture policies organizations can implement to enhance document security.

7 Ways to Improve Security With Document Print and Capture

The data within your organization is too valuable, and the number of threats is too high, to implement a piecemeal approach to document security. Any solution must include data security, workflow management and distribution monitoring and governance. 

Here are seven ways a robust document print and capture solution delivers the highest level of protection.

1. Follow-you printing

It’s important for organizations to ensure workers can print documents at any time, and pick them up anywhere they want. Follow-you printing enables companies to allow this, while removing the risk of private information being left at a printer.

2. User-based authentication and mobile access

Companies need to control the use of multifunction printers (MFPs) and allow employees to securely print, capture, process and route documents and images from mobile devices. Multiple methods for authenticating mobile users, including NFC/Bluetooth authentication, is essential for keeping documents and confidential data out of the wrong hands.

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3. Advanced information protection

There are a number of advanced information protection features to look for in a document print and capture solution. The detection and potential redaction of PII confidential data is one example. Another is encryption of your file store for documents that have printed or are waiting to print, which protects data at rest. Chain-of-custody documentation allows organizations to track who’s accessed or printed specific information, while automated watermarking shows document ownership. All of these features work together to enhance the overall protection of business documents.

4. Automated audit trails

Audit trails show organizations where data has been, and where it’s going. Once these are in place, organizations don’t have to worry about failed document compliance audits, and managers and executives can easily access the history of a specific document.

5. Data loss prevention methods

Organizations can suffer significant financial losses if they lose data. By using automated file quarantine and other data-loss prevention methods, they can avoid this damage or the penalties that go with it.

6. Diagnostics, controls, and reporting

Diagnostics and controls enable companies to actively monitor and govern print usage and behaviors at the employee, department, and device level. That provides superior security benefits. Reports tracking print, capture, and routing activities give organizations the information needed to maintain a secure environment and easily identify any issues that occur.

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7. Automated workflows and information monitoring

Automation plays a big role in preventing inevitable human errors. For instance, the ability to interrogate the print stream and stop predefined confidential information keeps data secure. When organizations can automatically apply consistent business rules and track the movement and use of information and documents, security improves, as does compliance. 

Closing Thoughts 

Content-aware print and capture provide greater visibility, security, governance, and accuracy into your print, capture, and output management workflows. A solution covering every aspect of a document’s lifecycle – including printing, scanning, routing, storing, and tracking – is essential to stringent document security. Organizations need to protect the information, and their reputation, with a solution working across any combination of systems, technologies, and devices. Enhanced document security future-proof organizations so employees can work like tomorrow, today.

Your business runs on the information contained within the physical and digital documents you and your colleagues touch every single day. A solution covering every aspect of a document’s lifecycle – including printing, scanning, routing, storing and tracking – is essential to stringent document security. What’s required is software that “understands” the content of the printed or scanned document—and automatically takes action to apply business rules to that document to ensure the data is secure. All without human intervention. With this “content-aware” print and capture, your business can manage and protect that data from inadvertent or deliberate exposure by identifying inappropriate printing of the information, automatically redacting keywords or patterns (like credit card numbers), providing reports that improve auditing trails, and more. 

As the new normal increasingly includes often-permanent remote/hybrid workforces, maintaining overall business continuity will be an essential directive. Traditional print management will not be enough. Organizations that can securely enable a digital office experience through a secure, comprehensive document and information management strategy will be well-positioned to embrace larger digital workflow transformation end-to-end.

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