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How will GDPR affect the print environment?

GDPR – It’s the buzz word that everyone is talking about at the moment, but what does it really mean for you and your customers?

Let’s take a look at what we know about GDPR:

The EU GDPR (European Union General Data Protection Regulation) provides a coherent and thorough personal data privacy law across all EU member states

  • GDPR aims to prevent security breaches and the loss of personal data by organisations that hold or process PII (Personally Identifiable Information)
  • Affects any organisation that offers goods or services (even free ones) or monitors the behaviour of EU citizens
  • More prescriptive than the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC (which it replaces)
  • The penalty for breaking the regulations can be financially extreme and significantly detrimental
  • GDPR will be the lawful benchmark that all organisations who process or store PII must adhere to
  • Live date 25th May 2018
  • The UK will be subject to this regulation regardless of Brexit

How might this affect the print environment?

Printers and multifunctional devices (MFDs) are often taken for granted. We use them to print, scan, copy and store a vast range of documents and information from our PCs and mobile devices and then forget about them. The key word there is ‘store’ and the trouble is, these devices aren’t quite so quick to forget as they all effectively have a substantial internal hard disk which, if unsecured, can pose a major data risk.

Once we understand that printers store data, the risks become obvious. A data leak could cause huge reputational damage to a company as well as personal damage to individuals. There are also financial threats: for example, contract information, compliance, bank details to name a few and we are seeing a significant growth in enquiries regarding the protection of data, images and print storage.

How can Key Digital help?

Our latest user-friendly range of Document Management Solutions include many security features, which take a holistic approach to consideration of all safety-related processes in a software package, for example:

  • Encrypted transmission of print data
  • Printout only after authentication via ID card, PIN code, username and password or with an established USB port
  • Encrypting stored data at the MFP
  • Overwriting of print data to the MFP