All About HP Wolf Security for PC and Printer Protection
While there are plenty of advantages to working remotely, professionals and business owners face new challenges associated with the growth of hybrid work. The biggest among them? Security.
Whether you work from home every day or for just part of the week, older and unsecured devices serve as a backdoor for bad actors who want your personal and professional data. HP places a firm lock on that entryway with HP Wolf Security. HP is always innovating by developing better protection and boasts upgraded security features that help fortify both printers and PCs.
With the rapid and ongoing shift towards hybrid work, HP Wolf Security is a comprehensive hardware-enforced security and support solution designed to better secure endpoints. In this article, we explore how HP Wolf Security works for remote workers, hybrid workers, and their companies.
Hardware-enforced security for PCs and print
HP Wolf Security provides hardware-enforced security and robust security features that are also built into each device. This is the best way to protect you and your information from intrusions because local hardware is easier for hackers to access and work-from-home network environments may not have the latest encryption enabled for secure device interactions. Hardware-enforced security also improves your system’s resilience against both conventional and zero-day, or previously unknown, attacks during the life of your printer, laptop, or desktop.
The source and impact of attacks can vary widely, but they’re increasingly common. During the summer of 2021, we saw a major attack over the July 4th weekend. As reported by CBS News, a software company named Kaseya was targeted by a ransomware attack, during which the data of up to 1,500 small businesses was compromised.
The FBI reported a massive rise in cyberattacks since the beginning of the pandemic. In fact, the Feds saw 3 to 4 times as many cyberattack reports as usual – or 1,000 complaints per day skyrocketing up to 4,000.
According to a Forbes article, even the White House has addressed cyberattacks through the National Cybersecurity Strategy by declaring ransomware a ‘National Security Threat.’ The U.S. Government expects tech firms to build solutions to combat this national threat.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics found 1 in 5 workers worked from home with many companies widening their talent pool to other countries, which dramatically expands their attack surface adding even greater urgency to reduce the chance of potential cyberattacks. So, why are endpoints important to protect and why are they being targeted?
PC and Printer endpoints are where the user, data, and internet meet causing these endpoints to be major targets for hackers and threat actors. Endpoints, especially in organizations that include hybrid work, are more vulnerable to attacks. According to Forbes, in 2023, 28.2% still work in a hybrid model which illustrates the continued need to establish a strong endpoint security strategy using Zero-Trust principles to protect organizations from ever-evolving cyberattacks.
Strengthened endpoint security for networked devices
For hackers, a workforce becomes a more appealing target when its technology and workers are distributed in various locations. Typically, home offices simply don’t have the same protections in place as a traditional, singular office setting. And if your hardware stays in one place, alongside other networked and protected devices, it’s much easier to fortify and manage.
When your home office hardware interacts with your company’s network from the outside, hackers see this as an opportunity to bypass frontline protection. More remote workers mean more opportunities for hackers to insert themselves into secure networks. Printers are one of the biggest vulnerabilities in the home and shared office spaces, and phishing scams are on the rise.
Blurred lines between professional and personal use
When working outside of the office, it’s common for professionals to shift from work to other activities and back again throughout the day.
This issue was highlighted in HP’s own Blurred Lines & Blindspots Report:
“76% of office workers say that working from home during COVID-19 has blurred the lines between their personal and professional lives, with half saying they now see their work device as their own personal device and 46% admitting to using their work laptop for ‘life admin.’”
All things considered, it’s important to prioritize endpoint security. HP Wolf Security provides both passive and active protection designed to mitigate the risks discussed in this article. HP business hardware contains built-in Wolf Security. Businesses and large organizations may add additional solutions for greater manageability.
The HP Wolf Security dashboard
The HP Wolf Security Controller dashboard for PC hardware is one of the most powerful tools available to organizations. It’s also incredibly easy to use. It features several tabbed sections that provide access to security settings and enable other security capabilities such as the next generation antivirus or credential protection.
The dashboard is also an interface for more powerful diagnostic options, like threat analysis. This dashboard shows the number of files isolated and sites where you were protected from potential phishing attempts or other malicious files.
You gain access to the dashboard with the HP Wolf Pro Security Edition and Enterprise solutions, and it provides an entirely new layer of device and fleet security.
HP Wolf Security Dashboard
HP Wolf Security for Business adds an expanded slate of features designed for businesses and professionals. It is also the first wave of protection for PCs with hardware-enforced endpoint security solutions.
You get built-in security protecting your PC starting from the hardware to the BIOS, all the way through to the applications you use. An essential feature is HP Sure Start which ensures your PC always starts up with a validated and safe BIOS and HP Sure Run keeps your important security capabilities running in the event of an attack. All of this is made possible with HP’s Endpoint Security Controller giving you the peace of mind that your HP PC will start securely at boot up.
Other basic security features such as HP Sure Click which opens Microsoft Word and PDF file attachments within a virtualized container protect you from potential phishing and ransomware attacks. In doing this, Sure Click prevents malware from infecting your device. A basic signature-based antivirus, HP Sure Sense, provides the first layer of protection checking for basic signature-based malware.
1. HP Wolf Security for Business
HP Wolf Security for Business adds an expanded slate of features designed for businesses and professionals. It is also the first wave of protection for PCs with hardware-enforced endpoint security solutions.
You get built-in security protecting your PC starting from the hardware to the BIOS, all the way through to the applications you use. An essential feature is HP Sure Start which ensures your PC always starts up with a validated and safe BIOS and HP Sure Run keeps your important security capabilities running in the event of an attack. All of this is made possible with HP’s Endpoint Security Controller giving you the peace of mind that your HP PC will start securely at boot up.
Other basic security features such as HP Sure Click, which opens Microsoft Word and PDF file attachments within a virtualized container, protect you from potential phishing and ransomware attacks. In doing this, Sure Click prevents malware from infecting your device. A basic signature-based antivirus, HP Sure Sense, provides the first layer of protection checking for basic signature-based malware.
2. HP Wolf Pro Security Edition
HP Wolf Pro Security Edition PC is tailored to meet the needs of small and growing businesses. You’ll get advanced multi-layered protection, and you’ll easily manage your security functions through the HP Wolf Security controller dashboard.
The Wolf Pro Security Edition includes these 4 capabilities:
- Threat containment through an advanced version of HP Sure Click to effectively isolate threats even from external devices like a USB hard drive.
- Malware prevention via advanced Next Generation Antivirus features that catches malware and quarantines it.
- Credential protection with a powerful anti-phishing system that monitors web activity and warns against suspicious websites.
- Web Browsing protection allows users to securely browse websites without compromising the PC.
HP Wolf Pro Security Edition PC coverage begins after the first boot-up and product registration. It’s available in 1-year or 3-year licenses, and it includes access to live support.
3. HP Wolf Enterprise Security
For bigger workforces and government organizations, the HP Wolf Enterprise Security package is the most comprehensively managed solution available. In addition to providing Wolf Pro Security coverage for employees, you can customize these plans to your needs. That includes layers of hardware protection and a great collection of high-security devices, alongside constant support from HP’s teams.
For larger companies and government organizations, HP Wolf Enterprise Security Solutions provides a world-class, comprehensive solution with manageability and flexible policy settings for any type of environment. HP’s Enterprise security solutions include HP Sure Click Enterprise and HP Sure Access Enterprise for vendor-agnostic Windows PCs. Sure Click Enterprise is a threat containment solution using hardware-enforced micro-virtualization delivering IT security efficiency, visibility, and inherent protection to your users. Sure Access Enterprise protects privileged user activity by isolating sensitive actions such as remote IT administration to highly sensitive systems. HP Wolf Security protects your users from phishing and other types of malware, safeguarding your PCs and high-value systems from bad threat actors looking to obtain your valuable data.
Enhanced printer security features
Since printers, frequently overlooked by many small, medium, and enterprise businesses, are a major vulnerability for both centralized and distributed workforces, HP Wolf Enterprise Security for printers includes numerous new and unique print security features. HP offers the world’s most secure printers1, and our Enterprise FutureSmart printers meet and exceed the NIST Platform Firmware Resiliency Guidelines. These products help customers ensure strong Zero Trust principles at the endpoints of their network—ensuring that all users are validated and authenticated. Our devices automatically self-heal, recover, and mitigate malware, phishing, and ransomware attacks, and provide the following award-winning features:
HP Sure Start maintains BIOS integrity and can automatically recover from potential attacks, saving security and print IT teams’ time, while strengthening endpoint device security. “Allowlisting” ensures both HP and HP–approved partner firmware is digitally signed and validated. We provide multiple levels of Allowlisting for layered protection at the firmware level.
Printers are most vulnerable when they are turned on and running throughout the day even in sleep mode. HP Memory Shield™ includes both hardware-protected runtime intrusion detection and control flow integrity. These monitor the memory and execution flow of the printer for unusual activity, detecting alterations such as those associated with Zero Day attacks—when hackers exploit a security vulnerability before developers can fix it. For customers, when malware and Zero Day attacks strike a printer, Memory Shield can identify the exploit and initiate automatic recovery without the need for intervention. This reduces the potential “blast radius” of an attack.
HP Connection Inspector monitors outbound printer network connections, detects any anomalous behavior, and initiates a self-healing recovery. For example, if an abnormal quantity of Domain Name Service packets is leaving the printer—indicating an attacker is attempting command and control to gain access to company data—these events are captured and can be analyzed using existing Security Incident and Event Management tools, providing customers with visibility into printer-specific threat activity.
As an added layer of print security, Original HP office print cartridges contain tamper-resistant, proprietary firmware that helps prevent modification from third parties after production and helps reduce the risk of malicious code entering the cartridge chip.
Going beyond standard penetration and vulnerability testing, in 2018, HP established the print industry's first Printer Bug Bounty program. This initiative engages global white hat security researchers—individuals who use hacking skills to ethically identify security vulnerabilities—to consistently seek out any firmware, device, and network communication bugs and vulnerabilities of HP devices in advance of launch.
Risk and compliance management are vital for business continuity. HP Security Manager is the Print industry’s only comprehensive policy-based printer security compliance tool. It is used to customize and deploy security policies and manage, assess, and remediate device configuration settings of HP printer fleets. Critical for zero trust implementation and security compliance is HP Security Manager’s ability to apply device certificates while also assessing the firmware vulnerability across the entire fleet from a single easy-to-deploy, server-based tool.
For hybrid workers and their employers who want a smaller print footprint for business home use, HP Wolf Pro Security enabled on HP’s professional line of printer products provides a variety of secure printer default settings and complementary security management capability with our Enterprise level single and multifunction devices.
HP also provides a wide range of secure printing and print management solutions and software in partnership with the print software industry’s leading developers.
HP Professional Security Advisory Services combines credentialed security experts and trained print and PC specialists to deliver a number of services. These include assessing the security posture of customers’ unique print and endpoint environments, ensuring effective global print and PC security policy and governance strategies, addressing compliance requirements, developing and implementing plans, providing ongoing management, and proactively identifying gaps in defenses. These services reduce the need for security and IT teams to plan, implement, and maintain effective global security across their Print, PC, and Collaboration infrastructure.
For customers seeking secure, virtual private cloud printing infrastructure, HP’s Managed Print Cloud Services (MPCS) provides robust, turn-key cloud-based printing infrastructure that features the latest cloud security capabilities and best practices and workflow optimization for companies of all sizes.
Extra resources from HP Wolf Security
Looking for extra support or additional reading material about HP Wolf Security for PCs and Printers and the latest information on cyber security? HP maintains a suite of resources for anyone who wants to tweak their security plans or find out more about the service.
1. HP Wolf Security Center
If you want to learn more about HP Wolf Security and how HP proactively fights potential security threats, the HP Wolf Security website is the right place to start. You’ll find specific resources for your printers and PCs. Go to hp.com/security to learn more.
2. HP Wolf Security Blog
For up-to-date technical cyber security news and major updates, visit the HP Wolf Security blog. The topics vary in scope from articles on developing threats, to an analysis of emerging global security trends. You can also read up on Wolf Security’s beginnings, which offers a look into the reasoning behind this expanded security portfolio. Learn more.
3. Security Resources
To gain in-depth knowledge about HP Wolf Security solutions, see our Security Resources website. You will find information about security solutions for your PCs and Printers. Learn more at hp.com/securityresources.
4. Cartridge security
HP Original Ink cartridges are designed to be reliable and secure. They include proprietary firmware to resist sabotage, and tamper-proof packaging and construction. You can learn more at the HP Wolf cartridge security page.
Adapt to a changing security landscape with HP Wolf Security
Device security was already an increasingly critical issue, even before the growing shift to remote work. Preparing for a future with more distributed resources means securing those resources for the long term. That’s where HP Wolf Security can help. The solutions are designed to protect you from malware at multiple levels from the BIOS built into HP’s business class PCs all the way through to the application level with Threat Containment. HP Wolf Security paves the way for you to work safely without worrying about endpoint compromises.
About the Author: Dwight Pavlovic is a contributing writer for HP Tech Takes. Dwight is a music and technology writer based out of West Virginia.
1HP’s most advanced embedded security features are available on HP Managed and Enterprise devices with HP FutureSmart firmware 4.5 or above. Claim based on HP review of published features as of February 2023 of competitive in-class printers. Only HP offers a combination of security features to automatically detect, stop, and recover from attacks with a self-healing reboot, in alignment with NIST SP 800-193 guidelines for device cyber resiliency. For a list of compatible products, visit: hp.com/go/PrintersThatProtect. For more information, visit: https://www.hp.com/us-en/security/print-security/claims.html
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