Secure Cloud Printing in the Real World: 10 Ways to Reduce Print Risk

Keeping your print infrastructure secure is a challenging IT duty. The pressure can send any IT leader or system administrator running for the hills, especially when cloud technology is brought into the mix. We get it, we’d be scared of compromising the existing network’s security, too.

In reality, cloud-native print solutions help companies reduce risk.

Without security, there is no cloud. And with adequate print security in the cloud? Businesses of all sizes in industries ranging from IT to healthcare to government can sit back and enjoy a fully protected print setup working independently in the background.

What is Secure Print in the cloud?

Secure cloud printing is the deployment of a print environment built on cloud-native security principles and systematic protection controls, including zero-trust architecture, role-based access control, end-to-end encryption, and authenticated print release.

Cloud-based secure print management software solves a fundamental gap in traditional print environments: Documents sitting uncollected in printer trays, unpatched print servers, and lacking visibility.

Cloud print platforms like YSoft SAFEQ Cloud address this with authenticated print release, encrypted data handling, zero-trust access controls, and provider-managed security that’s built in, not bolted.

Unlike on-premises setups, a secure cloud print solution is continuously updated, monitored, and validated by the provider, ensuring protection against evolving threats without placing the operational burden on IT departments.

The #1 Myth About Secure Print Management Software 

While it’s sometimes still believed that on-premises, traditional print infrastructure is the safest option for threat prevention and data protection, that’s not necessarily the truth.

There are security assurances to leverage with traditional means of print, but modern cloud print management software can offer many more layers of security and protection than you might think. Let’s explore that further:

10 Ways to Reduce Print Risk with Cloud Native Security

Often, when you move your print to the cloud (like with SAFEQ Cloud), your service provider becomes accountable for system protection. Not your IT manager. Not your SysAdmin. Your solution provider owns the risk.

Because of this accountability shift, your IT team can benefit from multi-layered, cloud native security across threat prevention, detection and response, and compliance.

In the following section, we’ll look at 10 ways a cloud printing platform helps you minimize print risk. 

1. Don’t Skimp Out on Basic Secure Cloud Print Hygiene

Regardless of what print solution you’re looking to implement, cloud or on-premises, your first step should always be to ensure good basic security hygiene. Especially if you want to implement more advanced security mechanisms and protection programs down the line.

The best IT security setups take a ground-up approach, starting with simple, secure print practices and adding advanced protective layers on top.

Basic secure print hygiene isn’t dauntingly complex or technical. It’s about consistency and common sense, knowing that secured printing software isn’t a catch-all solution that supersedes basic security protocols, like password policies, suspicious link handling, or identity management.

If you’re ready to migrate from server to cloud, you also need to keep in mind these key considerations that go into moving print capabilities to the cloud:

📖 Read on → 5 Major Considerations for Migrating from Server to Cloud

2. Close Security Gaps with Zero-Trust Policies

In a world where threats lurk in every online corner, it’s critical that businesses maintain a strong and safe security foundation. This is where active threat prevention comes in.

A sufficiently secure cloud print solution is based on zero-trust architecture. Zero-trust is a design and implementation strategy that assumes no device, app, or user should be trusted by default (unlike the castle-and-moat concept).

With zero-trust security, access is continually reauthorized to prevent impersonation. The model works from three main principles:

1. Verify explicitly (no implicit trust)
2. Least privileged access, role-based access control (RBAC)
3. Assume breach (monitoring, encryption, lateral movement prevention)

📖 Read on → Protect your Data with a Zero-Trust Printing Approach

3. Let Managed Services Keep Your Defenses Airtight

Another way IT teams prevent threats with secure cloud infrastructure is through vulnerability management and third-party penetration testing, both core tenets of cloud native security.

In the cloud sphere, you often can (and should) expect your solution provider to operate a secure software development lifecycle and actively run security scans on their software.

Through a managed service model, solution providers like Y Soft take on the accountability of keeping your print environment protected, running automated daily vulnerability scans to assess the performance of your defenses. If any issues show up, fixes are deployed immediately.

Then there’s penetration testing, a controlled security review where experts simulate attacks to pressure-test a system and uncover and fix software vulnerabilities before they are exploited by real attackers. The goal is to identify security gaps, reduce risk, and ensure compliance with industry standards.

Platforms like YSoft SAFEQ Cloud undergo multiple pen tests every year.

4. Keep Your Print Software Patched with Auto-Updates

Outdated systems are a leading cause of data breaches. Telemetry data from on-prem print environments indicates that in +80% of cases, updates fall behind by over a year, making your print infrastructure an avoidable and underestimated security risk.

📖 Read on → The Hidden Risk in Print Security: Systems Left Unpatched

Delayed updates increase exposure to known and unknown vulnerabilities, operational disruption, and compliance risks. The bottom line is simple: When updates get pushed, the attack surface grows. That’s why unpatched legacy infrastructure has become a frequent entry point for malicious attacks.

Let’s not forget about the Apache Log4j vulnerability and Print Nightmare.

The clear-cut security advantage of cloud print technology is its ability to automate the deployment of updates. By automating updates, solution providers can serve security patches for common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) more frequently. It also means that your busy IT team doesn't have to manually manage system updates anymore.

Secure cloud printing services help Sysadmins uphold system security over time without having to schedule or remember security updates. Native automation capabilities reduce print security risk by design, not by afterthought.

5. Stack Your Defenses with Multi-Level Data Protection

A critical part of a secured printing stack is its consistent protection of user and company data. Secure data printing is about locking down your data with:

• Data center sovereignty
• Logical data separation
• Data encryption
• User authentication
  

The goal is to maintain data availability, confidentiality, and integrity.

First, let’s look at data sovereignty. IT teams need solutions that ensure data storage and processing comply with local regulations and residency requirements, delivered by providers that offer regional control, transparency, and auditability. This includes:

• Deployment method
• Data residency (regional data centers)
• Availability and redundancy design
• Load balancing capabilities

With SAFEQ Cloud, you can take advantage of deployment flexibility, nine worldwide data centers across Europe, US, Asia, and Australia, and high availability (each data center is designed with triple or dual availability zones). Beyond that, critical components are redundantly deployed in every zone.

Next is data separation for privacy protection. When using a multi-tenant cloud print platform, IT leaders need data to be logically separated to make sure that company information remains within the specific tenant’s allocated portion of the cloud resource.

At Y Soft, we logically segment data by assigning each customer a unique portal ID. All data and files from that customer are linked to its ID, so there’s no risk of mixing data between customers. Only authorized users can access the information they’re supposed to, whether they use the user interface or APIs.

Third, we have data and communication encryption. Full data encryption (translating it from plaintext to ciphertext) and built-in auditing help you proactively protect information, manage risk, and achieve compliance with regulations, including GDPR.

All sensitive interactions with SAFEQ Cloud are encrypted in transit and at rest, using Transport Layer Security (TLS) and bit keys. Print jobs are end-to-end encrypted, from the moment they're submitted until they’re released.

To round off data security, we have authentication. By having features that ensure proof of identity, users and data remain protected in the cloud. Identity and access management is a key component in overall IT security, making certain that only authenticated actors, whether users or devices, can access apps, components, and platforms that they are authorized to use.

The SAFEQ Cloud secure print portfolio integrates with cloud authentication providers like Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, Google, PingID, and Auth0. For additional integration with on-premises solutions such as Active Directory & LDAP, we have SAFEQ Cloud Pro.

📖 Read on:
→ Enjoy Secure Cloud Printing with Ping ID
→ Identity Management with Auth0 Authorization

6. Implement a Solution with Continuous Monitoring

For security-minded providers, you’ll see they spend thousands of dollars every year on prevention, working from the notion that security starts before the attack. Our goal is to eliminate potential vulnerabilities before they turn into damaging exploits. But sometimes issues will be detected.

This is where a solid detection and response procedure comes in. For SAFEQ Cloud, we operate Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR), with 24/7 system surveillance and advanced monitoring across endpoints, networks, and cloud environments.

MXDR combines smart technology with human expertise to detect suspicious activity and respond swiftly before attacks spread. Think of it as a security service that keeps an eye on everything, so your IT team doesn't have to.

Here’s the kicker: MXDR is unique to cloud environments. This level of security is not possible with on-premises solutions unless you’re prepared to hand over full access to all your servers. Find out more about SAFEQ Cloud’s security posture here:

📖 Read on → YSoft SAFEQ Cloud Trust Center

7. Make Third-Party Validation Your Security Baseline

You’ve probably seen all the bold security claims out there.

Claiming security excellence is one thing; proving it is a different ball game. The best way to ensure your solution meets your security standards is to require audits against popular security frameworks such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2.

Cloud security certifications and regulatory compliance reports give businesses proof of a solution provider’s security posture. It helps IT teams make valid arguments about level of security and protective mechanisms when proposing a new solution to their board.

Compliance and certifications trade in obscure promises for profound clarity.

To address and tackle the expanding threat landscape, we’ve made SAFEQ Cloud solutions secure by design. With SAFEQ Cloud, we follow the principles of all the top-tier regulations and standards in the industry, namely:

• GDPR (compliant)
• ISO 27001:2022 (certified)
• AICPA’s SOC 2 (compliant)
• Security Innovation’s SD-PAC (certified)
• Adhere to CCM/CAIQ and OWASP standards
  
  

📖 Read on → SAFEQ Cloud Compliance Briefing

8. Make Print Authentication Standard Practice

After system security and secure print management policies, secure print come next. We already discussed access control from an identity management perspective in point 5; now, let’s look at authenticated print release and secure print roaming (commonly known as pull printing).

IT teams should ensure that every print job is locked behind an authentication step. Cloud-based secure print release solutions feature both secure release and pull printing. These features ensure that queued documents can be released for print only after the user authenticates at the printer workstation.

• Secure print release is a feature that allows print jobs to be held on the workstation and requires some form of user authentication before the user can release the job at that same printer. The authentication step is typically handled with a badge, PIN, or a username and password combination.
  
• Secure print roaming enables print jobs to be released at any networked printer, whether in one office, across multiple locations, or across continents. Here, print jobs roam through the cloud. The job is sent to a secure pull print queue (with no printer ties), remains held on the workstation, and can later be released at any printer after the user authenticates themselves.
  
  

📖 Read on → How to Keep Data Protected with Secure Pull Printing

9. Choose a Vendor Who Owns Your Security Like It's Their Own

Accountability improved security outcomes. When service providers are accountable for system protection (updates, monitoring, and response), security becomes an operational function rather than a background task.

When security becomes part of a managed cloud service offering, you can rest assured that security is embedded into your solution provider’s ongoing operations. Let’s look at SAFEQ Cloud as an example of how IT teams can benefit from provider-managed security:

• Applied automated deployments
• Continuous vulnerability management
• Managed detection and response (MXDR)
• Regular audits as part of the default service

When choosing your ideal secure print management software, keep accountability in mind, and choose a vendor who treats security as a priority, not a checkbox, and brings your print security into the heart of their business.

📖 Read on:
→ Accountability, Not Ownership: The Real Shift in Cloud Security
→ Cloud Print Security Is About Owning the Risk

10. Treat Security Awareness Like a Business Priority

Regardless of what your IT tool stack looks like, it’s vital to foster a robust internal security culture. Even more so as more of your systems run over the internet, and authorities around the world respond to cybercrime with tighter regulations (like Cyber Resilience Act, HIPAA, NIS2, and similar).

While many providers, like Y Soft, devote significant attention to threat prevention (covered in points 2–5 above), it’s important that companies train their staff on the evolving threat landscape and how cybercrime compromises companies worldwide.

This includes attacks such as:

• Ransomware
• Exploited vulnerabilities
• Phishing or social engineering
• Credential abuse
• Third-party/supply chain attacks
• Print device spoofing

As a final step in reducing risk when implementing a cloud print solution, make sure your colleagues are trained on potential print infrastructure-related vulnerabilities and threats, including known attacks, print job manipulation, and unattended physical documents.

Final Points

Reducing print risk isn't a one-time fix, it's an ongoing commitment. Across prevention, detection and response, and compliance, every layer counts. But with a managed cloud service, that burden no longer falls on your IT team.

The threat landscape continues to evolve, so it’s important that your IT team and colleagues remain vigilant and knowledgeable about cybersecurity developments. Check out this next article to find out what's shaping print security next, and what to prepare for.