QUOCIRCA PRINT SECURITY REPORT
Focus on print security rises as average cost of print- related data breach rises
Quocirca’s Print Security Landscape, 2024 reveals that the number of print-related breaches has increased and confidence in print infrastructure security has dropped as organisations switch up their print fleets.
Print Security Landscape, 2024
July 2024
Print Security Landscape, 2024 Mitigating the print infrastructure as a threat vector
With cybersecurity threats continuing to rise, print security is becoming more significant. In addition, changes to print infrastructure composition are coinciding with greater awareness of print security as breaches and their associated costs rise, according to the latest edition of Quocirca’s Print Security Landscape Report 2024 . In the report, 71% of the 500 IT decision makers (ITDMs) from the UK, US and Europe surveyed said that their organisation remains dependent on print, and 80% said they have changed the composition of their printer fleet in the past two years. In addition, 67% of respondents reported experiencing at least one print-related data breach in the past year, an increase from 61% in 2023. Worryingly, the average financial cost per breach has also risen by 38% year on year, reaching £1,028,346 – demonstrating how significant they can be. “Print infrastructure security has often been regarded as lower priority than other aspects of cybersecurity,” says Louella Fernandes, CEO of Quocirca. “However, our latest study indicates growing awareness of the vulnerabilities associated with hybrid and remote printing as breach frequency and costs rise. “Concerns about employee-owned home printers now rank second on the IT security breach list, with office printing in third position. Last year, these issues ranked ninth and eighth, respectively.” Confidence falls, spending expected to rise Despite the increasing risks, Quocirca’s report found that just 16% of ITDMs said they are completely confident in the security of their print infrastructure. This continues a
three-year trend of confidence decline, from 19% in 2023 and 23% in 2022. SMBs are the least confident, just 13% said they have complete confidence in print security. The study also showed differences between confidence in office print environments, where 58% are mostly or completely confident, and home/remote printing, where this figure drops to 47%. The lack of confidence may be prompting organisations to
© Quocirca 2024
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Print security trends in the US and Europe July 2024
commit more budget to the challenge, with 70% saying that they expect to spend more on print security in the next 12 months. Home print focus In terms of the print security measures being introduced, there is more evidence that focus has turned to home printing. Providing authorised printers to home workers that adhere to security policies (42%) is the most commonly implemented measure, followed by reporting and analytics to monitor home and office print usage of each employee for tracking and audit purposes (41%). Expected AI impact Artificial intelligence (AI) is also having an increasing impact on print security, with 34% of ITDMs say it is very important that print vendors use machine learning and/or AI to identify potential security threats and cyberattacks. This figure rises to 48% among organisations that see printing as a critical activity, and 41% among managed print service
Louella Fernandes ceo
quocirca.com
CONTINUED
printinthechannel.co.uk
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