New managed security service brings print infrastructure into the Security Operations Centre (SOC), helping security teams monitor an overlooked class of enterprise connected endpoint
Kyocera Document Solutions UK has launched PrintGuardian, a managed security service developed by its cyber division to help organisations identify and monitor one of the least visible areas of the enterprise attack surface: network-connected Kyocera MFPs.
As organisations work to secure increasingly complex IT environments, security teams are under growing pressure to understand every device that connects to the network, interacts with corporate data or communicates with critical business systems.
Printers and multifunction devices are part of that environment. They have operating systems, process sensitive information, store data, use network services and often integrate with email, directory services and document workflows. Yet in many organisations, they remain outside the scope of day-to-day security monitoring.
PrintGuardian has been developed to help organisations close this visibility gap by bringing modern printers and MFPs into the wider cybersecurity strategy. The service provides continuous monitoring, vulnerability detection, threat visibility and enriched telemetry that can be securely forwarded into established SIEM, SOC and SOAR environments, helping security teams gain a more complete view of activity across the print estate.
Jim Rea, Group Technical Director, Kyocera Group UK commented:
“Security teams have become increasingly effective at monitoring servers, laptops, cloud services and identities, but many organisations still have limited visibility of what is happening across their print infrastructure. Printers and multifunction devices should be treated as business-critical endpoints. They process sensitive information, communicate with multiple systems and sit inside the corporate network every day. If left unmanaged, they can become a foothold for attackers or a stepping stone for lateral movement. PrintGuardian helps organisations close that visibility gap and strengthen their overall cyber resilience.”
Bringing print infrastructure into the SOC
While print infrastructure is often managed operationally, it is not always monitored as part of the security stack. This creates a disconnect between the role these devices play in the business and the level of security oversight they receive.
PrintGuardian is designed to close that disconnect by collecting security relevant telemetry from Kyocera printers and multifunction devices across the customer organisation. The service monitors device logs, configuration data and actively performs vulnerability scanning of print devices and reports on any known vulnerabilities.
This telemetry is analysed and enriched to help security teams understand the nature, severity and context of potential risks. Findings can be routed into Kyocera Cyber’s UK-based AI powered, hyper-automated Security Operations Centre in Reading for investigation and a managed response service, or integrated into the customer-side existing SIEM, SOC or SOAR platforms to support centralised monitoring and their own incident management.
By translating print device activity into actionable security intelligence, PrintGuardian helps organisations detect risks that might otherwise remain hidden, including attempts to exploit vulnerable devices, misuse of authorised access, unusual network behaviour and potential indicators of compromise.
Addressing lateral movement risk
The launch comes as organisations increasingly recognise that attackers do not limit themselves to traditional endpoints. Any connected device with access to the network can become part of the attack path if it is poorly configured, unpatched or insufficiently monitored.
According to the NCSC, a single exposed Enterprise Connected Device (ECD) has the potential to enable a cyber actor to gain access to the enterprise network. The NCSC specifically calls out office equipment, such as printers as potential access points and highlights ECDs as highly likely to be used as stepping stones in lateral movement, allowing threat actors to move deeper into the network after initial compromise.
“Attackers do not distinguish between a laptop, a server or a printer if the device gives them access to the network,” added Rea. “The challenge for many organisations is not a lack of security tools, but a lack of visibility across the full estate. You cannot defend what you cannot see. PrintGuardian gives organisations a practical way to bring print infrastructure into the security operations workflow, helping teams detect risk earlier, respond faster and make more informed security decisions.”
From overlooked infrastructure to monitored security asset
By combining Kyocera’s print expertise with dedicated cybersecurity capability, PrintGuardian helps organisations move print infrastructure from a peripheral operational concern to a monitored security asset. Rea notes:
“As organisations work to reduce risk across increasingly complex IT environments, print infrastructure can no longer be treated as a standalone technology. With PrintGuardian, Kyocera is helping customers extend security oversight across the entire print estate, supporting stronger cyber resilience, governance and operational continuity.”
