Is your office printer a security risk? Yes. Here's how to fix it

Yes, your office printer is a security risk, and it’s usually the least protected device on the network. A modern multifunction device (MFD) is a computer: it runs an operating system, holds internal storage, hosts a web admin page and sits on the same network as everything else. Businesses that patch every laptop and lock down every server routinely leave the printer with a default password and five years of documents on its drive. Here’s what actually goes wrong, and the fixes.

The risks that actually matter

Skip the Hollywood scenarios. These are the printer security failures we genuinely see in offices:

• Uncollected documents in output trays. The most common data breach in any office is a salary review or client letter sitting in the tray for an hour. No hacking required.
• Default admin passwords. Many devices are installed and never hardened. Anyone on the network can open the web interface, read the address book, redirect scans or change settings.
• Documents stored on the device. MFDs cache print and scan jobs on internal storage. Unless encryption and overwriting are switched on, those documents persist.
• Unpatched firmware. Printer firmware has vulnerabilities like any other software, but almost nobody schedules printer updates.
• Scan-to-email and scan-to-folder misconfiguration. Devices holding stored credentials for your network and email system are a target in themselves.
• End-of-lease data. When a device is returned or sold on with its storage intact, everything it cached leaves the building with it.

Under UK GDPR, personal data on a printer is no different from personal data on a server. “It was only the photocopier” is not a defence the ICO recognises.

The fixes, in order of impact

1. Secure print release (pull printing). Jobs hold on a server and only print when the sender authenticates at the device with a card or PIN. This kills the uncollected-document problem completely, and it typically cuts print volume 10 to 15 percent as a side effect, because jobs nobody collects never print. This is the core of our secure print release service, built on uniFLOW.
2. Harden every device. Change default credentials, disable unused protocols and ports, restrict the admin interface, and put devices behind sensible network segmentation.
3. Encrypt and overwrite storage. Enable drive encryption and automatic job overwriting so cached documents don’t accumulate.
4. Patch firmware on a schedule. Treat the print fleet like the rest of the estate: known versions, planned updates. This is standard within a managed print agreement.
5. Audit trails. User authentication at the device gives you a log of who printed, copied and scanned what. For regulated firms this is often the difference between answering a client’s question in minutes and not being able to answer it at all.
6. Certified end-of-lease wiping. When devices leave, their storage is wiped or destroyed with a certificate to prove it. If your current provider can’t show you this, ask why.

The overlap nobody owns

Here’s the awkward organisational truth: in most businesses the printer sits in a gap. The IT provider doesn’t manage it, and the print supplier doesn’t think about security. Each assumes the other has it covered, and neither does.

That gap is precisely why we run managed print and managed IT security as one practice. The same team that hardens your laptops hardens your MFDs, patches their firmware and feeds their logs into the same monitoring. One owner, no gap.

A ten-minute self-check

Walk to your nearest MFD and ask three questions. Is there anything sitting in the output tray right now? Does anyone know the admin password (and is it still the default)? When did its firmware last get updated? If any answer makes you wince, the fix is straightforward and not expensive.

Book a consultation and we’ll include a print security review alongside the usual cost analysis. Most businesses are surprised by what their fleet is quietly storing.