If you’ve spent any time in IT over the last few years, you’ve heard “Zero Trust” thrown around so often it’s practically lost meaning. Zero Trust networking. Zero Trust architecture. Zero Trust something for every piece of software in your stack.
So it’s fair to be a little skeptical when someone (like me, right now) tells you that Zero Trust matters for your printers, too.
Here’s the thing though: it really does. And the reason it matters is precisely because most organizations have been so focused on applying Zero Trust principles to the obvious stuff (networks, identity, endpoints) that they’ve left a surprisingly large gap in a surprisingly obvious place.
The humble office printer. Sitting there, trusted implicitly, probably connected to your corporate network, probably capable of storing document data, possibly running firmware that hasn’t been patched since the last government. A little island of old-school perimeter trust in what’s supposed to be a perimeter-free world.
That’s what this post is about: what zero-trust printing actually means in practice, why it’s became a baseline requirement in 2026, and how to get your print environment there without losing your mind (or your weekend).
First: a quick recap of Zero Trust
Zero Trust is a security model built on one fairly blunt premise: don’t trust anything or anyone by default, even if they’re already inside your network.
Traditional security assumed that once you were past the castle walls, you could be trusted. Zero Trust assumes the castle walls don’t really exist anymore. And in the era of hybrid work, cloud services, and IoT-connected devices, they mostly don’t.
Instead of trusting by location, Zero Trust requires every user, device, and application to verify itself continuously. You don’t get a free pass because you’re on the corporate Wi-Fi. You have to prove who you are, on every request, every session.
If you want the full technical deep dive on Zero Trust as a framework, we’ve covered that separately. Today’s post is specifically about how those principles translate to your print environment.
Why printers are a Zero Trust problem
Printers and MFDs are, historically, the weakest link in most organizations’ security posture. Not because of some fundamental flaw in how printing works, but because they’ve been treated as an afterthought for so long.
Think about what a modern MFD actually is: a networked computer with storage, an operating system, the ability to receive and transmit data, and access to some of the most sensitive documents your organization produces. Merge it with a Zero Trust lens, and you’ve got a device that:
- Is often trusted implicitly, just by being on the network
- May store print jobs in a local queue — sometimes indefinitely
- Sends data across the network in plaintext, in many default configurations
- Sits in shared spaces where uncollected documents are visible to anyone walking past
- Runs firmware that may not be actively monitored or patched
In other words, a printer is an endpoint. And in a Zero Trust world, all endpoints need to be treated as potentially compromised.
The good news is that zero-trust printing isn’t some theoretical future state. It’s achievable now, with the right controls in place.
What zero-trust printing looks like in practice
Zero Trust isn’t a product you can buy: it’s a set of principles you apply. Here’s what those principles look like when you apply them to print.
1. Authenticate at the point of printing, every time
The most visible and impactful change in a zero-trust print environment is moving to secure print release.
Instead of print jobs going straight to the printer and sitting in a tray waiting for someone (anyone) to pick them up, jobs are held in a queue and only released when the user authenticates at the device. That authentication might be a PIN, an ID badge scan, a mobile app, or a combination of those things.
This one change eliminates an enormous range of risks: documents left uncollected, sensitive material picked up by the wrong person, print jobs fired off to the wrong printer entirely. It also creates a clean audit trail: you know exactly who printed what, when, and where.
If your print environment currently operates on the “send and hope” model, this is the place to start.
2. Encrypt print jobs in transit
In many default print configurations, the data travelling between a user’s device and the printer is unencrypted. On a network with other users, that’s a problem. On a network that’s been compromised in any way, it’s a potential data leak.
Zero Trust requires that all interactions with resources be secured regardless of location. For print, that means enforcing encrypted transmission (TLS, at minimum) for all print jobs. No exceptions for “trusted” internal connections, because Zero Trust doesn’t recognize those.
3. Apply strict access controls
Not everyone in your organization needs to be able to print to every printer. In a Zero Trust model, access is granted based on least privilege: users get exactly the access they need to perform the assigned task, and nothing more.
In practice, this means setting print policies that restrict which users or groups can print to which devices. A contractor shouldn’t be able to print to the HR department’s printer. A student shouldn’t have access to the administration office MFD. These controls should be applied at the print management level, not just hoped for.
4. Treat the printer as an endpoint and manage it like one
Just as you wouldn’t leave a laptop running outdated firmware unmonitored on your network, you shouldn’t leave your printers that way either.
For printers, this means:
- Keeping firmware patched and up to date
- Monitoring devices for anomalous activity (unusual print volumes, off-hours print jobs, unexpected network traffic)
- Ensuring devices are registered and known (unmanaged printers on your network are a blind spot)
Your print management solution should give you visibility across your fleet. If it doesn’t, that’s worth fixing.
5. Don’t forget network segmentation
For organizations with mature Zero Trust implementations, printer network segmentation is worth considering. Placing printers on their own dedicated virtual network (VLAN), or implementing Zero-Trust Network Access (ZTNA) for print traffic, limits the blast radius if a printer is ever compromised.
This is more involved than the other steps, and it’s not always necessary depending on your risk profile. But for high-security environments (healthcare, legal, government), it’s worth putting on the roadmap.
The perimeter-based print environment vs. the zero-trust print environment
Here’s the practical difference:
Perimeter-based | Zero-trust | |
|---|---|---|
Print job release | Automatic to printer tray | Held until user authenticates |
Data in transit | Often unencrypted by default | Encrypted (TLS) enforced |
Printer access | Anyone on the network | Policy-controlled by user/group |
Audit trail | Limited or none | Full log of who printed what, when, where |
Firmware management | Ad hoc, often neglected | Centrally managed, monitored |
Uncollected documents | Common | Eliminated (jobs expire if not collected) |
Continuous authentication | Not needed | Mandatory |
If your environment looks more like the left column than the right one, you’ve got some work to do. But it’s manageable work, and the payoff is significant.
What’s driving the urgency in 2026?
Zero Trust in general has been gaining momentum for years, but 2026 has brought a few things to a head for print specifically.
The shift to hybrid work has extended your print environment far beyond the office walls. Employees printing from home, from co-working spaces, from airport lounges.
The Windows 10 end-of-life last October triggered a wave of PC refresh cycles, bringing new endpoints onto networks and new firmware compatibility questions with them. New devices mean new security reviews, and printers that haven’t been updated in years suddenly look very out of place.
And frankly, enterprise clients are starting to ask harder questions. If your print solution can’t demonstrate Zero Trust compatibility, you’re going to find that conversation increasingly uncomfortable.
How PaperCut supports zero-trust printing
We’re obviously not going to end this without mentioning how PaperCut fits in — but this isn’t the hard sell. You can explore that yourself here.
The short version: PaperCut MF and PaperCut Hive both support the core pillars of zero-trust printing. Secure print release with badge, PIN, or mobile authentication. Encrypted print job transmission. Granular access controls and print policies. Full audit logs. Central firmware and patch management across your fleet.
If you’re starting from scratch, or auditing your current environment for Zero Trust readiness, our team is happy to talk through it.
The bottom line
Zero Trust isn’t about distrust: it’s about not assuming trust that hasn’t been earned. Printers have been coasting on assumed trust for a long time, and in 2026, that’s increasingly hard to justify.
The good news is that zero-trust printing doesn’t require you to rip and replace your entire infrastructure. It requires applying a set of well-established principles to a part of your environment that’s probably been on autopilot for too long:
- Authenticate
- Encrypt
- Restrict
- Monitor
Start with secure print release. Encrypt your job transmission. Lock down who can print where. Monitor your fleet. That’s most of the journey right there.
The printer in the corner isn’t as innocent as it appears. But it can be protected, with the right setup.
Want to see how your print environment stacks up? Talk to our team or explore PaperCut’s print security solutions.
