Canon teams up with McAfee to arm resellers with security answers

Canon has teamed up with McAfee to head off any problems that channel partners might have had responding to security queries from customers.

With every point on the network being seen as a potential point of entry for cyber criminals those pitching printers have come under more pressure to deal with the issue.

According to recent research from analyst house Quocirca, 66% of respondents considered printers to be one of the top five security risks to their organisation.

Canon has chosen to use McAfee Embedded Control Software as a way to ensure its printers are able to fend off malware threats.

James Pittick, Director of B2B indirect sales at Canon UK, said the tie-up would directly benefit its partner base.

“With both your customers and prospects becoming increasingly concerned about the security of their office devices, we’ve partnered with the leaders in cyber-security, McAfee, to enable you to turn a possible point of frustration into a strong opportunity," he said.

"Now you can confidently target new customers who have more exacting security requirements, as well as tap into incremental opportunities for upgrading your current client base," he added.

Canon already updates its firmware every six months to make sure that customers get more longevity out of products and Pittick said the latest addition would give resellers even more to add into the pitch.

Brent Smith, director of OEM sales at McAfee, said that connected devices were at risk of malware and attacks and there was a need to step up the levels of protection.

“McAfee Embedded Control ensures the integrity of systems by only allowing authorised access to devices and blocking unauthorised executables," he said.

"We consider this alignment with Canon to be a win and one that can help provide companies with the necessary assurance that their confidential business data will remain protected, even as office document workflows evolve," he added.