How MSPs Can Set Up Secure Print Queues in Shared Device Environments

Shared environment print queues streamline driver management and print workflows. However, due to their numerous potential entry points, they boast a larger attack surface that malicious actors can exploit.

MSPs can help clients protect critical data from unauthorized access and breaches by creating a secure print queue. Additionally, since security and compliance go hand-in-hand, a secure print environment also ensures clients meet compliance standards.

Strategies to implement a secure print queue for shared environments

Data breaches don’t come from stolen laptops and hacked servers alone; printers can also be a potential entry point. Today, printers are a staple within offices, and they are typically connected to a network for convenient print job assignments.

Overlooking printer security opens attack vectors for hackers, allowing them to gain access to sensitive files and documents, causing clients to drift off compliance. That said, it’s essential for shared environments to limit their attack surface through secure print queues.

📌 Prerequisites:

• Knowledge of client compliance standards
• Administrative access to client print servers or managed devices
• Existing print management tools or RMM for policy enforcement
• Defined SLA for print workflows

Strategy #1: Restrict print queue access

Restricting access to print queues within shared environments prevents broad permissions that allow any user to view, modify, or reprint documents. It also prevents anonymous or guest prints that can initiate malicious print jobs containing sensitive content or data.

In summary, this enables MSPs to ensure that only verified users have access to print queues. This consequently protects client data and helps them maintain compliance with existing security standards, such as ISO 27001 or HIPAA.

Sample strategy applications to secure print queues

• Limit administrative access: Only grant full administrative print queue controls to MSP admins and designated client IT leads. Implementing least privilege access prevents end users and malicious actors from altering printer settings or redirecting jobs to unauthorized devices.
• Configure role-based permissions: Set permissions for who can print, manage, or delete jobs. For example, grant end users with Print rights only, while MSP technicians and admins retain Manage Documents rights.
• Disable guest and anonymous printing: To eliminate untraceable print jobs, configure Windows or print server settings to turn off guest printing. On network printers, verify if the Allow anonymous access or Guest Printing options are disabled.

Strategy #2: Use secure print release features for queued print jobs

Even with restricted queue access, submitted jobs within the queue, like sensitive client data and internal financial reports, sit unprotected. Attackers can exploit this, providing them with access to sensitive data that they can easily pick up.

Secure Print releases solve this issue by ensuring that print jobs are only produced after an authentication period. This, in turn, minimizes the risk of accidental exposure of critical data, enforces user accountability, and introduces a clear audit trail.

• Configure hold-and-release printing: Set printers to hold submitted jobs until released by the requester. MSPs managing Windows environments can also enable Protected Print Mode to leverage its hold-and-release printing features. (See ⚠️ Things to look out for)
• Disable auto-print behavior for shared devices: Disable automatic job release in shared areas to ensure that users are present to retrieve their documents.
• Require user authentication: Configure printers and servers to require authentication before proceeding with submitted print jobs. Common options include PIN codes, badge authentication, or account login using domain credentials or via SSO integration.

Strategy #3: Monitor and audit print activities across clients

After configuring all permissions and secure release features, visibility becomes key to ensuring print security policies remain effective over time. Continuous monitoring serves as a quality check, allowing MSPs to see if client environments remain compliant or policies have drifted.

Enable print logging on print servers or device managers and check if logs capture user identity, document name, submission timestamps, and IP address. MSPs can also utilize RMM platforms to centralize logs across client endpoints.

Establish a review schedule depending on a client’s risk profile and flag issues like large off-peak hours print volumes, failed print attempts, and activities from deprovisioned devices. For compliance-driven clients, generate summaries that include usage patterns, exceptions, and incident notes to prove due diligence.

Strategy #4: Standardize print security policies across clients

With standardized policies, MSPs have a unified security baseline, as consistent configurations ensure every client has the same foundation. Repeatability also supports MSP processes as they scale, as it allows easy replication of security policies across an environment.

Formulate a secure print queue baseline template

Inconsistencies make strategy execution harder across client environments. To prevent this, develop a baseline configuration, including security practices such as role-based permissions, secure print release, and logging parameters. Configuration replicability helps MSPs troubleshoot, patch, and document unique exceptions per client.

Apply consistent configurations across clients

After creating a baseline, use it to enforce consistent authentication, access, and audit processes. Document these configurations within your knowledge base to provide technicians with a unified, single source of truth.

Adjust only for client-specific needs

Not all clients have the same compliance obligations and operational workflows. When making changes or exceptions, only modify the relevant parameters to keep your core print security policy consistent.

Strategy #5: Balance security print queue policies with usability

Shared environments can be fast-paced, requiring quick fulfillment of multiple print jobs from numerous end users or departments. Lengthy authentication processes can strip away the speed of print jobs in an environment.

When security is too rigid, users may look for convenient workarounds like printing to unsecured devices. That said, it’s essential to balance security and usability to ensure that safeguards don’t impact user productivity and workflows.

Recommended strategies to maintain usability

• Secure release efficiency: Authentication features like PIN, badge, or login should be efficient and simple to execute. Avoiding overly complex steps streamlines printing workflows. (See ⚠️ Things to look out for)
• Regular client trainings: Train clients regarding the basics of print queue security practices during onboarding or routine meetings.
• Document user instructions: Craft client-facing references and guides near shared printers explaining secure release steps alongside troubleshooting methods.

Strategy #6: Verify secure print queue configuration

Configurations can drift over time, leading to gaps like missed permissions, misapplied logging policies, or untested functions. Regular validation helps you ensure that secure print configurations across clients are consistent and work as expected.

Send test jobs from authorized and unauthorized accounts, and confirm whether authentication works for authorized users and denies access to unauthorized ones. Additionally, review the generated event logs per print queue or server to review whether users, timestamps, and document names appear correctly.

After each review cycle, document your findings to support traceability and simplify future compliance checks. Present this documentation to clients during QBRs to prove proactive printer management strategies are functional and in place.

⚠️ Things to look out for

Additional considerations for secure print environments

Addressing the following considerations ensures that existing print security frameworks remain sustainable, efficient, and adaptable across client environments.

Cost control through secure print queues

Secure print queues aren’t only ideal for data protection—they’re also great for minimizing waste. Requiring authentication before fulfillment eliminates abandoned or duplicate prints from the queue, helping clients reduce resource usage. You can incorporate this during reviews to quantify client savings and demonstrate the operational importance of secure print queues.

BYOD and mobile printing security

Today, many shared environments incorporate bring your own device (BYOD) policies, which can introduce security gaps and risks to clients. To limit this, implement secure mobile print solutions that require proper authentication, centralized queue management, and encrypted connections.

Manage hardware lifecycle compatibility

Legacy printers often lack support for secure release, encryption, or modern drivers. It’s important to identify these devices early to determine whether updates or replacements are necessary to reduce management complexity.

NinjaOne integration ideas to enhance print security policies

NinjaOne simplifies secure print queue management through centralized monitoring, automation, and documentation to ensure consistent application throughout client environments.

• Network Management Solution: Centrally track the availability and health of managed printer devices across different clients in a single platform.
• Automation features: NinjaOne’s script library supports custom automation scripts for secure print queue configurations. It also offers the ability to create and deploy scripts across multiple devices at scale.
• Documentation tool: Create technician runbooks to standardize secure queue setup and management, and store them in customized knowledge bases for centralized access.
• Reporting: Easily transform print activity summaries into client-facing reports to highlight secure print release usage trends, anomalies, and effectiveness.

Turn print security practices into scalable MSP strategies

Secure print queues, just like other endpoint security measures, are essential in protecting client data. However, print queues are often overlooked, and when left vulnerable, they can serve as an attack vector that compromises client data.

Restricting print queue access, enabling authentication, and closely monitoring printer activity reduce the risk of printer-related exploits. Additionally, integrating RMMs like NinjaOne helps centralize and scale configuration management across multiple clients.

Related topics:

• How to Use PowerShell to Clear Print Queues
• Streamline Your Network Printer Management with PowerShell Scripting
• How to Enable or Disable Event Viewer Printer Logs in Windows 11
• How to Use PowerShell to Clear Print Queues
• How to Automate the Creation of Local Printer Mappings via GPO and PowerShell