Pharos Beacon Cloud Platform Update: March 2022 Release Notes

This release represents the latest version of Pharos Cloud and Secure Release. This update includes several important new features including:

• Data Privacy and Regional Document Storage

• Policy Print

• Secure Release Configuration Settings changes

• Web Console changes

• MFP Improvements

  • Authenticate to Home Device

  • OpenID/Passcode Authentication Support

  • Support for the Japanese language on SE50s

  • Support for Ballpark SFD and Gemstone Devices

  • OpenID/Passcode Authentication Support for Canon and Lexmark

• Added Proxy Configuration Settings to the Discovery and Deployment Utility (DDU)

• Print Scout Improvements and new features

Data Privacy and Regional Document Storage

Note: The Data Privacy and Regional Document Storage feature is available as a licensable feature.

Since the General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) came into full effect in 2018, several countries and organizations have adopted or are considering adopting comparable data protection laws. Failing to meet compliance requirements is costly and may potentially damage an organization’s reputation. Organizations must also deal with a growing number of data breaches. It is more important than ever to take all necessary precautions to protect your personal data.  

Pharos Cloud introduces the new Data Privacy and Regional Document Storage feature to help your organization comply with data protection laws regulating the collection and storage of users’ personal data.  

This new feature includes two aspects of data protection: Document Storage and Data Privacy.  

• Document Storage

  • Choose the default region where print jobs are stored at rest

  • Provide end-users the option to switch regions (useful for employees who frequently travel across regions)

  • Notes: Document Storage applies to Secure Release jobs only; it does not apply to Direct Print jobs.

• Data Privacy: Decide what personal identifying information (PII) is collected by Pharos Cloud. For example, print user information (name, email address) can be hidden or not collected. 

Regions

Data Privacy and Document Storage use the concept of a “region” to control the storage of documents as well as information collection. A region is a logical definition that maps a geographic location. It restricts document storage to the selected region.  In addition, each region comes with pre-defined information collection setting (determining which print user information is collected, hidden, and not collected). Information collection settings can be customized if the default settings are not suitable.

If the Data Privacy and Regional Document Storage is enabled, you can choose from 21 geographic regions to store your documents at rest.

Basic Workflow

1. An administrator configures the Data Privacy region settings in the Pharos Cloud web console. 

   1. Select a Default Region. This is the region that is used if a region has not been set at the Print Scout level either by an admin or an end-user. Note: Documents are stored in the US West Oregon region unless a different Customer Default Region is specified.

   2. If you require multiple regions, enable additional regions to make available to users. 

   3. Change the information collection setting of your selected regions as needed. 

2. Deploy regions to users’ workstations by deploying Print Scouts with required regions already configured.

   1. The admin downloads a Print Scout package with a list of regions. 

   2. The admin runs the Print Scout Config tool and sets the default data privacy region.  

   3. The admin deploys the Print Scout package to users’ workstations. 

Note: For sites using Chrome extension only, if the Default Region is not applicable for a user travelling to a different region, administrators can import a region (using the User Import API in the Secure > Advanced screen).

3. Users continue to print as they normally would. User documents are stored in the selected region. Where documents are stored follows a set of hierarchy or precedence order.

   1. At the top of the hierarchy is the user-specified region (which can be set in the Sentry Print desktop app by the logged-in user or imported by an admin).

   2. Next is the Print Scout default region (which can be set in the Print Scout Config tool by the Administrator user).

   3. At the bottom of the hierarchy is the default region set in the web console.

Supported Clients

This feature is supported on the following clients:

• Windows Print Scout (versions 10 and 11)

• Chrome extension

• Pharos Mobile App

User Experience 

With this new feature, employees can:

• Switch to a different region based on available regions defined by an administrator. 

• Reset to the Default Region.

Notes:

• Switching to a different region or resetting to the default region is not yet supported on the Chrome extension and the Pharos Mobile App.

• macOS support is coming later in 2022.

Data Privacy Configuration

To support the new Data Privacy and Document Storage feature, a new Data Privacy configuration subtab has been added to the Profile tab of the web console. Use this tab to view and configure document storage and information collection settings for your organization.

Using the Configure action button in the Data Privacy tab, administrators can:

• Define the Default region

• Select one or more regions to make available to users

• Change the information collection setting per region (If the default setting is not suitable)

  

Collected Print Job Information moved to Data Privacy tab 

Previously, the Print Scout configuration dialog (from the Discover > Print Scout tab) included settings that control what print user information the Print Scout could collect. In this release, the Collected Print Job Information has been moved to the Data Privacy tab. 

User Import now includes user groups and regions

Pharos Cloud allows administrators to batch import and register cards via CSV file upload so new employees and first-time users of the system do not have to go through the card registration process. The import process (Secure > Advanced screen) has been updated to include groups and data privacy regions.

• Importing groups – Administrators can now import groups for use with Policy Print.

• Importing Data Privacy Regions – This is particularly useful for sites with Chrome extension only. It can also be used to assign a user-level region by an administrator.

More Information:Data Privacy and Document Storage

POLICY PRINT

Policy Print was introduced in Preview mode in the November 2021 release. This licensable feature encourages responsible printing by raising awareness about optimal printing choices and reduces print costs by enforcing print policies. It aims to help change user behavior by communicating proper print resource usage to employees.

This release lays the foundation for upcoming Policy Print reports.

SECURE RELEASE CONFIGURATION SETTING CHANGES

This release includes changes to the Secure Release Settings options in the Secure > Settings screen in the web console. Here’s a summary of those changes:

• Removed the Advanced switch. All settings are now visible; you no longer have to toggle between Basic and Advanced switches to view the Advanced settings.

• Changed the layout of the Sentry Print Settings section. Settings are now grouped according to their functions (for example, all proximity card-related settings are under the new Proximity Card options section).

• New Proximity Card Options section

Added a new Proximity Card options section where you can select a card reader from a drop-down list box. It also sets the default VID/PID values for those cards. Also added the ability to set a custom VID/PID for card reader types not included in the list of supported card readers.

• New Device Logon Experience Section

A new Device Logon Experience setting has been added to the Sentry Print Settings screen with the following options:

• Secure Print - This is the default setting. When selected, the user will see the Secure Release screen on authentication. The display may vary depending on the authentication provider configured

• Touchless Printing - With Touchless Printing enabled, employees simply tap their proximity card at a preferred printer. All documents in their personal queue will begin printing after 5 seconds. An employee can cancel printing before the 5-second timer elapses by simply pressing Cancel.

• Authentication to Device Home - When selected, the device's home screen is displayed upon authentication

WEB CONSOLE CHANGES

• Added the Firmware Version field for a device to help admins determine the version of the firmware installed on the device. This field is now available in the Device Inventory and Personalized Views tabs.

  

• A Reset Secured Printers button has been added to the Secure > Secure Printers screen. This button is used to reset printers that are no longer active in the network but still appear as a secure printer in the system. Clicking the Reset Secure Printers button sets the inactive printer from Secured status to Unsecured.

  

• Changed the Universal Print integration so that all system admins can see the status of the Enable Universal Print integration switch even if they have not logged into their Microsoft account. Previously, if a system admin enables the integration, other system admins do not see the status of the integration unless they log in to Microsoft first.

  

• The validity of mobile app registrations has been extended to 1 year (from 90 days). Users no longer have to go through the mobile registration process every 90 days if not used within 90 days.  In addition, a new Mobile Registration option has been added to the Remove User Registrations setting so admins can remove mobile registrations of users if they have any concerns (e.g., refresh token is compromised)

  

• Changed the manufacturer name displayed on the web console from Hewlett Packard to HP.

MFP IMPROVEMENTS

Support for the Japanese language for Secure Release

Added support for the Japanese language on Secure Printers, in addition to French, Italian, German, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Dutch, and Norwegian.

Support for Ballpark SFD and Gemstone Devices

This release will support the upcoming new HP model releases, including the single-function (printer-only) models

Authenticate to Device Home (Canon, HP, KM, Lexmark, Ricoh, Toshiba, Xerox)

In the August 2021 release, we introduced the Authenticate to Device Home setting. This setting determines whether to display the Secure Release screen or the Device Home screen on user authentication. When turned off, the Secure Release screen is displayed to users on authentication. When turned on, the device’s home screen is displayed upon authentication.

• This feature is now available for Xerox devices in addition to Canon, HP, KM, Lexmark, Toshiba, and Ricoh devices.

• You can find the Authentication to Device Home as an option for Device Logon Experience in the Secure > Settings > Sentry Print Settings section of the web console.

OpenID/Passcode Authentication Support (Canon, HP, KM, Lexmark, Ricoh, Toshiba, Xerox)

Passcode Authentication provides an alternative way to authenticate at printers. If an employee's ID card is lost, damaged, or unavailable, the employee can use a passcode to authenticate at a printer to release documents.

In this release, passcode authentication is now supported on Ricoh Devices. Starting from this release, passcode authentication is now supported on the following devices:

• Canon

• HP

• Konica Minolta

• Lexmark

• Ricoh

• Toshiba

• Xerox

When a user registers their OpenID Connect credentials in the Print Scout Setup Guide, the employee is assigned a system-generated passcode based on the configuration chosen by the IT administrator. This passcode is sent to the employee via email in case it's forgotten.

ADDED PROXY CONFIGURATION SETTINGS TO THE DISCOVERY AND DEPLOYMENT UTILITY (DDU)

The ability to modify the proxy configuration in the DDU user interface instead of manually updating the configuration file has been added. A new Proxy Settings tab has been added to the DDU user interface allowing admins to configure proxy settings. There are three options:

• No Proxy - Select this option if you don't want to use a proxy server. This is the default setting.

• Use System Proxy - Select this option if you want to use the proxy settings from the local machine's configuration.

• Custom Settings - Select this option to manually set proxy settings for your site.

PRINT SCOUT IMPROVEMENTS AND NEW FEATURES

The Print Scout in this release has been updated to support the Data Privacy and Document Storage licensable feature. This release supports installing the Data Privacy and Document storage capable Print Scout on the following versions of Windows.

• Microsoft Windows 10

• Microsoft Windows 11

Note: macOS Print Scout does not yet support Data Privacy and Document Storage.

New Data Privacy tab in the Print Scout Configuration Tool

The Print Scout Configuration tool has a new Data Privacy tab, which is used by admins to specify the default region before deploying it to user workstations.

Sentry Print Desktop application updated with Data Privacy Region switcher

The Sentry Print Desktop app has been updated with the Data Privacy region switcher. A user can easily switch between regions by selecting their preferred region.

Pharos Print-at-Home (Preview)  

This release introduces Pharos Print-at-Home in Preview mode. Print-at-Home enables your organization to gain visibility and control over your employees' at-home printing. Let us know if you would like to participate in the Preview program.

Key Benefits:

• Enable remote employees to easily add their home office printer to their work computer.

• Utilizes Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) to create and send the print job for “driverless” queue management.

• There are no extra servers to install or manage.

• Supports lower-end laser and inkjet printers that provide AirPrint capabilities

To install Print Scout for Pharos Print-at-Home, add the /wfh switch when installing Print Scouts on user workstations:

PrintScoutInstaller.exe /wfh

After the installation, users can now add personal printers on their home networks by selecting the Direct Print option from the menu and selecting Add WFH Printer. The user then types an IP address or hostname of their personal printer.

Notes:

• In Preview mode, this feature requires a Direct Print license. After Preview mode, Print-at-Home will require its own per-user license

• Requires printer support for PDF, URF, and PCL file formats.

COMPONENT RELEASE VERSIONS

This release includes the following software components and release versions.

*This version includes the update to resolve the Log4J vulnerabilities (CVE-2021-44228)