HP Security Summit 2024 Puts Cyberhealth in the Spotlight

Keypoint Intelligence’s Cybersecurity page

HP Inc. gathered industry analysts in New York City before the holidays for its annual HP Security Summit. Boris Balacheff, Chief Technologist for Security Research and Innovation at HP, kicked off the event with an overview of endpoint security and HP’s role in it. He also noted that the Trusted Platform Module (TPM)—a security chipset found in PCs, enterprise printers and MFPs, as well as other connected devices—was celebrating its 25th anniversary. (HP was a co-founder of the Trusted Computing Group that envisioned that improvement.)

In his presentation, Balacheff outlined the main tenets of HP’s enterprise security strategy:

• Robust and Certifiable Roots of Trust: Platform security protection from advanced physical threats.
• Security Across the Device Lifecycle: Hardware and firmware security management integration from factory through to device decommissioning.
• Zero-Trust and Distributed Security at Scale: PCs and printers designed for zero-trust network environments and integrated with HP cloud-based management.
• Threat Containment: Expanding HP virtualization technology to enable protection-first architecture across the portfolio.
• Self-Healing and Resilience at Scale: Accelerating customer deployments for endpoint infrastructure resilience.
• Staying Ahead: Artificial intelligence (AI) in security, supply chain security, and addressing the threat quantum computing abilities pose in cracking today’s most secure encryption methods.

A Spotlight on HP Print Security

In the breakout session focused on print security, HP’s experts detailed their strategic approach to managing security across enterprise printing ecosystems. As we have noted in past blog posts, printers, MFPs, and other “internet of things” (IoT) devices often rank low on the security priority list, but they remain critical access points for potential cyberattacks. Indeed, printers have been involved in several documented breaches, ranging from data exfiltration to serving as nodes in ransomware attacks.

HP’s approach to print security is centered around a “chip-to-cloud security ecosystem” that includes embedding innovative measures to mitigate risks throughout the device lifecycle. Their security philosophy revolves around ensuring secure device operation and safeguarding sensitive data, providing clear insights into potential vulnerabilities and solutions, as well as enhancing device security without negatively impacting the user experience.

Some key innovations and technologies introduced and enhanced over the years to support these concepts include:

• HP Sure Start: A self-healing basic input/output system (BIOS) ensures devices recover from firmware attacks with enhanced detection of anomalies during boot sequences.
• HP Memory Shield: Hardware-enforced runtime intrusion detection protects against zero-day attacks and memory exploits, and control flow integrity to monitor the execution flow to protect against remote code execution.
• Connection Inspector: Monitors network behavior to identify and block suspicious activities, preventing command-and-control exploit attempts.
• Secure Encrypted Printing: Data is encrypted end-to-end, protecting sensitive documents from interception.

Future of Print Security

Alas, cyber threats are constantly evolving, and ease of access into AI technologies means even inexperienced bad actors can concoct malware with little time or effort. HP reported that its teams are continually advancing endpoint defenses on several fronts. AI-powered threat intelligence is embedded to allow machine learning to rapidly detect and mitigate threats. Quantum-secure algorithms future-proof devices against evolving computational threats. Lastly, supply chain security requires strict validation processes to ensure tamper-free components.

Keypoint Intelligence Opinion

Our past testing has shown that HP’s print security innovations set a high standard for safeguarding network-connected devices. By focusing on proactive measures, automated defenses, and user-friendly solutions, the company enables businesses to align security with operational efficiency. We look forward to testing the next generation of HP print devices to ensure that they, too, deliver on HP’s cybersecurity promises.

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