HP Inc., Splunk and Nanyang Polytechnic collaborate to create app for HP MFPs

From left: Joe Wagle, HP’s Global WW Director, Security & Industry Solutions Consulting; Wilson Chin, Head of marketing APAC, Splunk; and Aung Win Tin, Lecturer at School of Information Technology, Nanyang Polytechnic were part of the panel answering media questions.

While the HP Inc. printers already come with a host of in-built security features, HP continues to look for new ways to add features and functionality. "We're not just talking about making devices and PCs and printers more secure. We're also able to help customers audit their policies and help them develop action plans from an overall, holistic point of view," said Koh Kong Meng, MD, Southeast Asia, HP Inc.

HP Inc.'s approach has led to collaborations with  security providers like Splunk and academia like Singapore's Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP). HP Inc.'s latest printer app, made in Singapore with the help of Splunk and NYP, was conceptualised to add a new layer of protection to HP enterprise printers.

"(If a business) gets attacked it'll give you an alert so you'll know when you are getting attacked.. so you can take the right actions. Many times, when corporations get attacked, they don't even know," said Koh.

"Splunk indexes printer log data. The app ingests the log data from the printers. If there was an attack on the BIOS an alert pops up on the printer. Splunk indexes this in the real time, so you can see the trend in real time," said Wilson Chin, Head of marketing APAC, Splunk. The data is then available for further analysis, Chin said.

Joe Wagle, HP’s Global WW Director, Security & Industry Solutions Consulting, said that HP Inc. has been helping clients determine if their printer and imaging infrastructure is at risk since 2015. "We have our own assessment, methodologies and industry tools and are able to ascertain the current vulnerability of the infrastructure," he said. "This type of integration only exists on HP printers."

Businesses which are unsure about what to do next to mitigate a cyberattack focused on their printers can get help from HP Inc., Wagle said. Besides auditing services HP Inc. offers implementation services to follow up on recommendations on printer security, as well as recurring audit services to reassess environments every six months.

"Customers come to us for many reasons, information that they don't know what to do with, or what they should do. HP's advisory service and advisory retainer service both meet that requirement. Our 

implementation services are built on what we recommend in interpreting the vulnerability," Wagle said.

NYP is a long-time Splunk partner, and offers certification for Splunk trainers. Aung said NYP typically collaborates closely with industry to produce students who have relevant skillsets when they graduate. For the HP printer app project six students worked on it as their final-year projects. Splunk provided the software, and HP the data. The app from concept to certification took about six months.

Interested?

The app is available on Splunkbase for any HP MFP printer from the 2014 enterprise-class MFP printers onwards. Users will need to configure their printers to support the functionality so that the app will talk to their printers. They must also be Splunk users.

Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts about about Splunk's presentation at Secure the Workplace, which discussed insecure IoT devices;

HP Inc.'s new multifunction enterprise printers, which were launched at the Secure the Workplace event; and

NYP's partnership with Splunk

Hashtag: #securetheworkplace

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