In 2024, 67% of organizations reported data loss due to unsecure printing practices - Sharp Europe For commercial print businesses, customer trust is everything. Whether you're producing high-value...
In 2024, 67% of organizations reported data loss due to unsecure printing practices - Sharp Europe
For commercial print businesses, customer trust is everything.
Whether you're producing high-value marketing materials, sensitive financial documents, or confidential corporate reports, your clients expect their data to remain secure. But with printers and workflow systems handling massive volumes of customer data daily, an unprotected print environment can be a major liability.
Cyber threats, unauthorized access, and compliance failures can put your business and your reputation at risk. A single breach could lead to contract losses, regulatory penalties, and long-term damage to client relationships.
The good news?
Securing your print operations doesn’t have to slow you down.
By implementing end-to-end encryption, controlled access, and compliance-driven workflows, you can protect customer data, ensure regulatory compliance, and maintain seamless production efficiency.
Let's explore the key strategies commercial print businesses need to create a secure, reliable, and customer-trusted print operation.
Contents
- Understanding the Risks in Print Operations
- Key Strategies for Secure Printing
- Best Practices for a Secure Print Environment
- How Print ePS Solutions Secure Your Print Operations
Understanding the Risks in Print Operations
The top print security challenge is protecting sensitive and confidential documents from being printed (28%), rising to 34% in the US. Notably, organisations operating a multi vendor print environment are more likely to cite this as a challenge (30%), compared to 24% of those using a standardised fleet. - Sharp Europe
For commercial print businesses, print security isn’t just about protecting data—it’s about keeping operations running. A single security breach can halt production, delay deliveries, and erode client trust, leading to significant financial and reputational damage.
A recent example is the cyberattack on Lee Enterprises, a major U.S. media company, which disrupted newspaper printing nationwide. The company was forced to take parts of its IT infrastructure offline, preventing dozens of publications from meeting their print deadlines. This incident highlights a growing risk: without robust print security, businesses can experience production downtime, missed deadlines, and lost revenue—even if the attack isn’t directly targeting them.
Common vulnerabilities in print operations include:
- Unattended print jobs: Sensitive documents left in output trays, risking unauthorized access.
- Cyber vulnerabilities: Printers and workflow systems connected to unsecured networks, providing entry points for hackers.
- Lack of access control: No authentication measures in place, allowing unauthorized users to send or retrieve print jobs.
- Non-compliance with data protection laws: Failure to secure print workflows can lead to violations of GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI-DSS, exposing businesses to legal and financial penalties.
For commercial print providers handling high-value client assets, these risks can be devastating. The Lee Enterprises breach serves as a warning: if your print infrastructure isn’t secure, your entire operation is at risk. Proactively addressing these vulnerabilities is critical to maintaining uninterrupted production and protecting both business and customer data.
Key Strategies for Secure Printing
For print businesses handling confidential customer orders, implementing key strategies for secure printing is essential. These strategies include:
A. Encryption and Secure Data Transmission: Use secure print protocols like SSL/TLS, IPSec, and WPA3 for data in transit. Employ image overwrite technology to automatically erase print data from storage after processing, and ensure secure cloud printing with encrypted file transfers.
B. Authentication and Access Control: Implement pull printing, user authentication methods such as PIN codes and biometrics, and role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict access to high-risk print jobs.
C. Secure Print Release & Document Handling: Use secure print release to hold jobs in an encrypted queue until authorized release, print job logging and auditing for full visibility, and automatic hard drive overwrite to prevent data recovery.
D. Securing Printer Networks & Firmware: Regularly update firmware and manage patches to prevent vulnerabilities, use firewalls and network segmentation to isolate print devices, and employ AI-powered threat detection to monitor for suspicious activity.
E. Compliance with Data Protection Regulations: Adhere to GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001 by maintaining print audit trails, enforcing data retention and deletion policies, and ensuring secure disposal of printed materials with sensitive information.
Best Practices for a Secure Print Environment
For commercial print businesses, security isn’t just about protecting data—it’s about protecting your entire operation. Clients trust you with their most sensitive materials, from confidential corporate reports to high-value marketing assets. A single security breach could mean missed deadlines, regulatory fines, or loss of critical customer relationships.
As Steve Pearce, Group Head of Marketing at Kyocera, explains: "Given the constantly evolving threat landscape, adopting a zero-trust approach to security is crucial for maintaining the integrity of print infrastructure."
A Zero Trust approach means that no user, device, or application is automatically trusted—every access request is verified before granting permissions. This framework is becoming essential in securing print workflows, preventing unauthorized access, and reducing vulnerabilities across production environments.
Here’s how emerging technologies are shaping the future of secure printing:
AI-Powered Security Monitoring
Modern print environments generate vast amounts of data, making it difficult for human oversight alone to detect security threats. AI-powered monitoring tools can analyze print activity in real time, identifying unusual patterns, unauthorized access attempts, and potential breaches before they cause damage.
These systems can:
- Flag suspicious printing behaviors, such as high-volume prints of confidential documents or unusual after-hours printing.
- Prevent unauthorized data extraction by detecting abnormal file movements or unexpected access to stored print jobs.
- Integrate with network security tools to automatically block or quarantine high-risk activities.
Zero Trust Print Security
Printers have traditionally been treated as low-risk devices, but in reality, they are network endpoints vulnerable to cyber threats. A Zero Trust model treats printers as potential risks by default, requiring strict authentication and security protocols before allowing access. Key implementations include:
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Users must verify identity through PIN codes, biometric scans, or smart cards before printing.
- Role-based access control (RBAC): Employees can only print, copy, or scan what they are authorized to handle, reducing the risk of insider threats or accidental leaks.
- Continuous monitoring: Every print job, scan, or data transfer is logged and assessed for compliance and security threats.
Biometric Authentication for Secure Job Release
For high-security print operations, passwords and PINs alone are no longer enough. Biometric authentication—such as fingerprint and facial recognition—ensures only authorized users can retrieve sensitive print jobs. This is particularly valuable for commercial printers handling financial reports, legal documents, or proprietary creative assets, where even minor data leaks can have serious consequences.
Blockchain for Tamper-Proof Print Auditing
Blockchain technology is emerging as a game-changer for print security. By storing print logs in an immutable, decentralized ledger, businesses can:
- Ensure end-to-end traceability of every document printed, scanned, or shared.
- Prevent data manipulation, ensuring that audit logs cannot be altered or erased.
- Strengthen regulatory compliance with tamper-proof record-keeping for GDPR, HIPAA, or financial industry audits.
For commercial print businesses handling high-value client assets and sensitive customer data, these advancements are not just security enhancements—they are competitive advantages. Implementing AI-driven monitoring, Zero Trust architecture, biometric authentication, and blockchain auditing will not only reduce security vulnerabilities but also reinforce compliance, strengthen client confidence, and future-proof operations.
As print security continues to evolve, staying ahead of these trends will set leading print providers apart—ensuring secure, efficient, and trusted production environments in an increasingly digital world.
How Print ePS Solutions Secure Your Print Operations
At Print ePS, we understand that secure printing is more than just technology—it’s about protecting your business and your customers. Our end-to-end print management solutions ensure that every document, order, and transaction remains confidential and compliant with the highest security standards.
Print ePS solutions like Monarch, Pace, and PrintSmith Vision include built-in security features to prevent unauthorized access. MarketDirect StoreFront enables secure web-to-print order processing with customer data encryption. Auto-Count 4D tracks real-time production data while ensuring print jobs remain secure and auditable. PrintFlow 4D optimizes job scheduling without exposing sensitive client data.
By implementing Print ePS solutions, your business gains enterprise-level print security, compliance, and efficiency—while protecting your customers' trust. Contact us today to learn how we can help you secure your print workflows.
