Most businesses in the UK are unaware of the risks posed by printing confidential documents, according to new research by Samsung Electronics UK. The survey found that many UK workers regularly see confidential documents abandoned on the printer.
The study was conducted by Lightspeed Research and spoke to over 4,500 workers from companies across Europe in a variety of verticals.
Nearly half (47%) of UK employees claimed to be unaware of printing security processes or technologies used to protect the print infrastructure at their organisation. Equally worrying, according to the survey, is that 80% of UK workers do not realise that printers store all recent documents on a removable hard drive. 76% were unaware that a printer can be hacked in a similar way to a PC.
This lack of awareness of the dangers of printing confidential documents was highlighted by the fact that nearly half (46%) of UK workers reported seeing private documents on the print tray. This has led to salary details (14%), performance appraisals (22%) and CV information (34%) being revealed.
The banking and finance sector appears to be the most careless when it comes to printing confidential information, according to the survey – 40% of respondents admitted seeing sensitive documents on the printer.
The UK healthcare sector also featured high on the list, where 37% of workers reported seeing personal patient information left on the printer, including health records (26%) and lab results (19%).
“The potential for security breaches is vast and can only be overcome if employees in each and every sector are educated around the pitfalls of leaving abandoned documents, and with the help of a controlled printing process. This includes ensuring the simplest measures are taken, including introducing document shredders and PIN codes on printers,” said Geoff Slaughter, director of Samsung Print in the UK.
