All About HP Wolf Security for SMBs

While there are plenty of advantages to working remotely, professionals and business owners face new challenges associated with working from home. The biggest among them? Security.

Whether you work from home every day or just partially, older and unsecured devices serve as a backdoor for bad actors who want your personal and professional data.

Opening a single email could put small and medium businesses at risk, making remote-work security more important than ever. HP intends to place a firm lock on that entryway with HP Wolf Security. It’s the new face of HP Security and boasts upgraded security features that help fortify a new generation of printers and PCs.

With the rapid and ongoing shift toward remote work, HP Wolf Security is a comprehensive hardware security and support solution designed to better secure the transition. In this article, we explore how HP Wolf Security works and look into concerns like network security, and endpoint protection for remote workers and their SMBs.

Hardware-enforced security for PCs and print

HP Wolf Security provides hardware-enforced security, which means you’re not only supported by external monitoring and remedies. Robust security features are also built into each device. This is the best way to protect you and your information from intrusions because local hardware is more challenging for hackers to access. This also improves your system’s resilience against conventional attacks during the life of your printer, laptop, or desktop.

The source and impact of attacks can vary widely, but they’re increasingly common. According to Google’s Safe Browsing service, the number of phishing sites detected by the search engine nearly doubled between the start of the year and mid-May. Furthermore, according to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, 5% of all data breaches perpetrated this year targeted SMBs, which often are less prepared to prevent or respond to an attack than large enterprises. Within two months of the outbreak, 13% of small businesses reported that they had been victims of an attack.

The new work-from-home environment not only makes it more difficult for companies to respond to suspicious activities, but it also expands the attack surface into the home.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the home, which range from smart thermostats to video doorbells to wireless printers, can provide a less-secure avenue for hackers seeking to gain access to the home network, which is often shared with workplace laptops, explains Shivaun Albright, HP’s chief technologist of Printing Security.

But why is it so important to protect your hardware, and why is it being targeted?

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 secured networks. Printers are one of the biggest vulnerabilities in home and shared office spaces, although phishing scams are also common.

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. All HP hardware receives a permanent security boost through Wolf, while businesses and large organizations gain access to manageable solutions.

HP Wolf Pro Security Edition for SMBs

HP Wolf Pro Security Edition is tailored to meet the needs of small and growing businesses, and it adds Pro versions of the features we covered above. You will get the same multi-layered protection and you will easily manage your security functions through the HP Wolf Security dashboard.

HP Wolf Pro Security Edition addresses the challenges small to medium businesses may encounter —insufficient IT personnel, budget constraints to invest in security, and a lack of resources to understand how to best protect against cyberattacks. HP Wolf Pro Security Edition provides enterprise-level security, requiring low-touch IT, supporting seamless deployment and management. Leveraging HP Sure Click Pro and HP Sure Sense Pro in a single console offering, it is optimized for small and medium companies.

You can also monitor and manage threats with an easy readout for information on origin and more options. The Security Edition handles these problems in 3 ways:

1. Threat containment through an advanced form of HP SureClick to effectively trap threats. HP Sure Click opens untrusted websites and files in isolated virtual containers (micro-VMs), so malware is unable to affect your PC, access files, or get into other browser tabs. When the browser tab or Microsoft Office® file is closed, the entire micro-VM is automatically discarded—and the malware trapped within is deleted.
2. Malware prevention via boosted HP Sure Sense features that fight malware. HP Sure Sense provides real-time detection and prevention of zero-day threats and advanced persistent threat (APT) attacks.
3. Identity protection with a powerful anti-phishing system that monitors activity and warns against suspicious websites. Identity Protection aims to protect users from submitting credentials to credential harvesting attempts hidden in a phishing link in an email, chat client, PDF, etc.

HP Wolf Pro Security Edition 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.

Access to the HP Wolf Security dashboard

The HP Wolf Security dashboard is one of the most powerful tools available to SMBs. It’s also incredibly easy to use. It features several tabbed sections that provide heads-up data, access to security settings, and oversight features such as security activation and activity log management.

The dashboard is also an interface for more powerful diagnostic options, like HP threat isolation technology. This lets you sort potentially harmful files flagged by your system and use Wolf Security tools to examine and act on any suspected threats.

You gain access to the dashboard with the HP Wolf Pro Security Edition and higher-tier editions, and it provides an entirely new layer of device and fleet security.

Extra resources from HP Wolf Security

Looking for extra support or want additional reading material about HP Wolf 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 concerns, the HP Wolf Security Center is the right place to start. You’ll find specific resources for your printer and PC, as well as bulletins about recent threat activity. You’ll also find out how HP adapts and fine-tunes available security solutions. You can find out more about HP’s Bug Bounty Program, too, which is the first of its kind.

2. HP Wolf Security Blog

For up-to-date 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.

3. HP Wolf Security Resources & Insights

If you’re feeling bogged down by security dilemmas or are not sure how to plan for the future, the HP Wolf Security Resources & Insights page offers guidance. You’ll find useful links and a variety of informative videos from HP security experts on varying topics, as well as emergency scenarios like maintaining key operations during a major attack.

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.

5. HP Sure Click Enterprise Support

HP’s Sure Click feature is one of the most powerful tools available through HP Wolf Security. It suppresses threats and makes navigation safer without you even noticing.

For enterprise users, however, it’s important to stay on top of developments and potential conflicts with new software. Head over to the HP Sure Click Enterprise Support page for info-packed FAQs, research reports, and up-to-date support articles.

Adapt to a changing security landscape with HP Wolf Security

Device security was already an increasingly important 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. It’s designed as an “always-on” solution for consumers, and a comprehensive resource for SMB and organizations.