The Silex SecurePrint ($499 direct) solution is a great package for those who share an office-wide, semipublic, or departmental printer but still want to keep sensitive documents concealed from prying eyes.

The Silex package consists of the four-port Silex Pricom SX-5000U2 Multi-Port USB Device Server that attaches to your network via wired Ethernet, the Silex FUS-200N USB fingerprint scanner, and SX Virtual Link, Silex's SecurePrint software. Sig-Tec Software, a longtime supplier of authentication solutions, makes the hardware, but it's sold under the Silex brand.

The concept is straightforward. Every time you print a document, the print job is held in the print-server queue and released only when you identify yourself by scanning your fingerprint at the attached fingerprint scanner. The fact that the fingerprint scanner is plugged into the USB device server alongside the printer (and not into your PC) ensures that documents don't wait unsecured in the printer tray while you walk from your office to the printer.

While Silex users' print jobs are held until released by a fingerprint scan, the extra layer of security doesn't slow down anyone else who might want to use the printer; they can obviously still print the old-fashioned "insecure" way. Additionally, since documents are held in each PC's queue and not on the print server, other non-secure print jobs won't get stuck waiting for someone to scan in their fingerprint and release the print jobs.—