In a wide-ranging piece of research commissioned by Canon, Transforming Print and Document Management in Australia and New Zealand, IDC Asia/Pacific revealed that print-related data breaches are almost ubiquitous across the region. With the overwhelming majority of organisations having experienced a print-related breach—and 37% reporting having suffered ‘a few’—it might be tempting to resign yourself to what is becoming an increasingly common fact of life and business. That would be a mistake.

Normalising the prevalence of data breaches is a surefire way to under invest in security measures and expose your organisation’s data to cyber attack. Organisations in Australia and New Zealand are facing increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, with rates of data breaches, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, and phishing and ransomware attacks all increasing year-on-year. With the rate of cyber breaches continuing to surge—and the financial costs of those breaches ballooning, too—now is the time to check if your print and document security is up to scratch. The urgency around this issue becomes clear when you dig into IDC Asia/Pacific’s findings.

Despite respondents reporting a host of deleterious impacts to their operations in the wake of print-related security breaches, from productivity loss (38.5%) to negative publicity and damage to reputation (34.6%) and revenue/financial loss (30.8%), comparatively few organisations can hand-on-heart claim to have great print and document security. In fact, only one third of the organisations surveyed (33.5%) have ‘very high confidence’ in the security of their print and document environments.

So, what can organisations do to shore up their print and document and security in 2025?

Run regular security audits

The importance of continuously assessing and updating your print security protocols cannot be overstated. Depending what print fleet you’ve deployed, you may need to perform manual audits on a regular basis to keep your system secure.

Canon’s imageRUNNER ADVANCE DX series multifunction printers offer ‘360 Degree Protection’ to help protect your data. That means, document security, device security and network security.

To ensure the security of your print environment is maintained 24/7, Canon printers verify system integrity at start up, automatically perform system checks and firmware updates and use Trellix® Embedded Control (formerly McAfee) to defend against unauthorised access.

Update security patches

Hackers are constantly trying to find vulnerabilities in software, which is why it pays to be vigilant. In January 2025 alone, The Australian Signals Directorate's Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD's ACSC) published two critical alerts after vulnerabilities were detected in dedicated security products.

Canon multifunction printers run automated updates and security patches, which means their threat detection tools are always up-to-date.

Build a security-aware culture

Creating a security-aware culture is vitally important to the establishment and maintenance of your organisation's security posture. Communicating your organisation’s cybersecurity stance, empowering people to contribute to data security efforts and mandating certain behaviours, such as secure print and scan policies, will help increase awareness among your people.

Secure your end point

Unsecured print fleets are the things hackers’ dreams are made of. With the potential to not only gain access to sensitive documents, modern printers with email and network connectivity open up a whole range of possibilities for malicious actors. That’s why it’s so important to shore up the security of your print and document environment at its critical endpoint—your printer fleet.

Canon printers verify system integrity at start up, automatically perform system checks and firmware updates and use Trellix® Embedded Control (formerly McAfee) to defend against unauthorised access. Add SEIM integration and the ability to customise security controls with the Multifunctional Embedded Application Platform and you have a robust endpoint.

Get a complimentary security audit

With cyber threats on the rise, it’s critically important to ensure that your organisation’s print and document environment doesn’t let you down in 2025.

If your organisation is among the two-thirds or those surveyed that doesn’t have very high confidence in the security of your print fleet, contact Canon today to organise a complimentary security audit.