Even the smallest businesses are starting to realise document security matters. But while most stories about security breaches focus on secret government attacks and evil cyber villains, the most common threats are a lot less exciting.

In practice, there are some annoyingly easy ways to lose sensitive files when you’re using the wrong kind of printer.

1. Like leaving them in the printer tray

You know that stack of documents lying on your printer? That’s wasteful. But it’s a threat too. In that stack might be someone’s pay review, your customers’ data or your company’s financial plans and roadmap. If you don’t want that stuff just lying around, make sure your printer’s smart enough to authenticate your users before it prints out their documents.

2. Sending files without password-protecting them

You need to scan a file and send it to your colleague, John. You’re in a hurry. So you scan the document really quick and mail it to John – the wrong John. Oops. Get yourself a printer that helps you password-protect files.

3. Saving the sensitive files in an unsafe folder

When someone needs to scan a document and then save it to the cloud, they usually need to save that scanned file somewhere local first. It might be their desktop or some local folder. But if they forget to delete that file after copying it to a shared Dropbox or Google Drive or wherever, you’ve got a problem. Make sure you’ve got a printer that’s smart enough to automatically save your users’ files in the cloud for them. And they won’t leave sensitive files lying around.

4. Getting someone else to print for you

Sometimes remote workers need something printed before they come in. A common way around this is to ask someone else to print the file for them. But if they save that sensitive file in an unsafe place, you might be in trouble. If your printer supports mobile printing, your remote workers won’t need to go through someone else to print their files. And this won’t be a problem.

5. Leaving the data on the printer’s hard drive

You probably don’t think of your printer as a computer. But the smartest printers have hard drives and they’re central to the way information flows through your company. So, make sure your printer automatically overwrites its own hard drive for you. More important, make sure the printer’s disk is well encrypted, too.

No business wants to lose its sensitive information. But you really don’t want to lose that information because of a simple, avoidable mistake. Avoid these by getting yourself a smarter printer – one that has all the features you need to secure the flow of information. And all the intelligence to help your users work in smarter ways.

Get security right with Xerox ConnectKey technology

Information security is a priority for every size of business. It’s why so many businesses count on Xerox ConnectKey technology to protect themselves. Find out how it can improve your productivity, mobility and security.