As an industry leader in document security, Sharp® Electronics recommends that businesses take a multi-layer approach to securing their documents and data. This has never been more important as the proliferation of e-mail and the Internet has made the need to monitor and safeguard document workflow a top priority.

Failure to take steps to protect information assets has serious consequences, and risks exposing an organization to liability claims, financial loss, and criminal penalties. Whether its personal or financial information, health records, confidential government information or sensitive corporate data, it’s critical to deploy solutions that minimize the risk of targeted or opportunistic threats.

What’s more, federal mandates now require compliance with stringent laws, specifically, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB), and Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), to protect medical, consumer and financial records, respectively. Additionally, government agencies must comply with security-relevant policies, such as NSTISSP #111 and DoD Directive 8500.12.

Sharp’s innovative suite of security offerings help organizations to meet these rigorous compliance requirements by strengthening every link in the workflow chain - in relation to MFPs - by addressing the following security topics:

DATA SECURITY : The optional Data Security Kit (DSK) helps protect and control the major MFP systems and subsystems (print, copy, scan, fax jobs, network settings, operating system, memory components, local user interface, engine and job controller). The DSK uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm on all data before it is written to RAM or Flash memory and the hard disk. The DSK also provides overwriting routines for deleted data to help ensure that all information is virtually irretrievable by unauthorized users.

ACCESS CONTROL SECURITY: To limit unauthorized access to each device, Sharp MFPs can utilize account codes, user/group profiles, passwords, or external user accounts contained in an LDAP or Active Directory server. All user credentials are transferred using a proven combination of Kerberos, SSL or Digest-MD5 encryption to help avoid interception.

NETWORK SECURITY: Sharp MFPs feature an intelligent network interface that can limit access to specific computers on a network by IP or MAC address, and selectively enable or disable any protocol or service port on each device. All communications to and from the MFP can utilize Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for secure transmission over the network, and most devices also support SMB, IPv6 and SNMPv3.

FAX SECURITY: The architecture of Sharp MFPs provides a logical separation between the fax telephone line and LAN. It is, therefore, virtually impossible for attackers to gain access to the internal systems of the MFP or the local network.

DOCUMENT SECURITY: Protection for all sensitive documents can be assured through Sharp encrypted PDF files for scanning and printing, or using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocols for scanning, printing, e-mail and setup.

AUDIT TRAIL SECURITY: The Sharp MFP internal audit trail, and/or third party application software such as Equitrac Office® provides comprehensive auditing of all user activity. Certain federal regulations parameters, such as 'to', 'from', 'when' and 'file name' can be logged, reviewed and archived for conformance.

Download the Sharp Security Suite Brochure (850K) and the Sharp Security Q&A in PDF format.