Law firms often treat print security as a peripheral concern within broader cybersecurity programs. In reality, printers and multifunction devices function like any other network-connected systems with firmware, storage, authentication layers, and management interfaces.
Within law firms, copiers and multifunction printers routinely process sensitive documents containing confidential information, including trade secrets, client information, and regulated data. Print jobs traverse networks, queue on servers or devices, process in firmware, temporarily store in memory, and output to physical media.
Security failures occur due to insufficient controls or misconfigurations at any stage. Whenever this is the case, firms become vulnerable to cyber threats, the resulting fines for non-compliance, and reputational damage.
This blog explores print security through a print job lifecycle model, mapping vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and security measures at each stage of the printing process.
Print security describes the technical controls implemented to protect legal documents and sensitive data as a print job moves through the print environment. This includes authentication, access control, encryption of print traffic, audit trails, and firmware management.
Printers and copiers store data and connect to internal networks to manage print tasks, much like computers. Misconfigurations at any stage of this process can expose sensitive documents to unauthorized access or data breaches.
Common print security failures include unsecured queues and auto-release printing. When legal professionals print documents without user authentication or physical presence, there is always a risk of a data leak.
Law firms can quickly mitigate risk by enforcing secure print release, encrypting print traffic, maintaining firmware, monitoring print activity across all print devices, and applying consistent access controls to prevent documents from being left unattended at the printer.
A print job originates at an endpoint and traverses the network to a queue or spooler for processing. From there, the printer may temporarily store the job in memory before releasing the document, leaving residual data and logs on the device or within the system.
At each stage in this process, there is a risk of introducing distinct vulnerabilities. As always, any weakness, at any point, expands the attack surface and opens the door to cyber threats like unauthorized access and data exfiltration.
Print jobs are created from a workstation, a virtual desktop, or a software solution such as a document management system. In a legal environment, most jobs, including legal documents containing sensitive information, will be converted to a print-ready format such as PCL, PDF, PostScript, or XPS.
Without strict user authentication, print jobs lack accountability. When this happens, it's challenging to maintain audit trails, which increases the risk of unauthorized access.
Print jobs are transmitted across internal networks to print servers or directly to devices using protocols including SMB (port 445), LPD (port 515), IPP (port 631), or raw JetDirect (port 9100).
Threat actors often intercept unencrypted print jobs via ARP spoofing or poisoning, MITM attacks, or passive network monitoring. Practices using raw port 9100 and LPD must be aware that they don’t provide confidentiality or integrity protection.
Print jobs are stored in queues on print servers or device memory until they are processed or released by the user. By default, Windows spools print jobs to C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS\.
Unsecured queues allow unauthorized users to view, release, or redirect print jobs. Furthermore, spool files stored on disk can contain the full document content in plaintext.
Print devices process jobs using embedded operating systems, typically Linux or VxWorks. Jobs may be stored temporarily in volatile RAM or persistently on internal hard drives or SSDs.
Firmware vulnerabilities can allow threat actors to compromise device operating systems, extract stored documents, establish persistence, or access other network resources. Depending on configuration and authentication method, some devices may temporarily store authentication material in memory.
Documents are produced at output trays, introducing security risks not addressed by network security controls.
Documents left unattended are at risk of unauthorized viewing, theft, or misfiling.
After printing, residual data can remain in the device memory or on the disk. Audit logs track print activity, while firmware controls ongoing device operations.
There’s always an opportunity for attackers to extract residual data during device decommissioning or exploit firmware vulnerabilities months after initial compromise.
Common misconfigurations that can occur in law firm print environments include the following:
Default credentials remain unchanged, including admin accounts with factory passwords such as admin/admin and default SNMP community strings like public or private.
Encryption is often disabled, resulting in print jobs transmitting in cleartext over SMB, LPD, or raw port 9100.
Excessive permissions are granted when print queue access is provided to broad groups such as "Domain Users" or "Everyone."
Auto-release is enabled, allowing print jobs to be processed immediately without authentication.
Firmware updates are deferred, leaving devices running versions with known CVEs that could enable remote code execution or authentication bypass.
Print devices often have unrestricted network access within flat network architectures, including access to file servers and domain controllers.
Management interfaces are insecure, with HTTP-only web consoles, Telnet enabled, and SNMPv1 or v2c active.
Audit configurations are often missing, resulting in print activity not being logged or logs not being retained.
Method: Network sniffing, ARP spoofing, MITM attacks targeting print traffic
Protocols exploited: LPD (port 515), raw JetDirect (port 9100), unencrypted SMB, HTTP-based IPP
Impact: Full document content captured in transit
Detection: Network traffic analysis for unencrypted print protocols; volumetric anomalies
Method: Remote exploitation of CVEs in device firmware
Vulnerability classes: Buffer overflows, authentication bypass, command injection, directory traversal
Impact: Device compromise, persistent access, lateral movement, credential theft
Detection: Vulnerability scanning, firmware version auditing, behavioral analysis
Method: Administrative access to the device filesystem, physical theft of hard drives
Target: Unencrypted job storage, cached authentication credentials
Impact: Exposure of historical print jobs and sensitive documents
Detection: Integrity monitoring, physical security controls
Method: Exploit the compromised print device as a pivot point
Technique: Leverage embedded Linux/VxWorks OS, abuse device credentials stored in memory, use device as a staging point for network reconnaissance
Impact: Access to file servers, domain controllers, or other high-value targets
Detection: Network segmentation breach alerts, unusual print device traffic patterns, anomalous SMB authentication attempts
Method: Exploit print server vulnerabilities or weak authentication
Impact: Access to all queued jobs, spool files containing document content, and domain credentials if the print server has elevated privileges
Detection: Server hardening assessments, monitoring for unauthorized service account usage
Printed documents are subject to the same regulatory requirements as digital files.
Required technical controls include:
Applicable cybersecurity laws and regulations may include HIPAA for healthcare, GDPR for Europe, CCPA for consumer privacy, and state-specific privacy laws.
Managed Print Services function as supporting infrastructure rather than standalone security solutions. They take the burden off already overwhelmed in-house IT teams who have more important work to concentrate on.
Typical capabilities include:
With the right managed print services provider, law firms can follow best practices and maintain consistent security standards across all copiers and printers.
Effective print security requires control throughout the document lifecycle:
These print security best practices support data protection, document security, and regulatory compliance.
Print infrastructure is a network-connected cyberattack surface that requires the same security discipline as servers and endpoints. So, vulnerabilities exist at each stage of the print job lifecycle, from endpoint submission through network transmission, queue storage, device processing, physical output, and residual data handling.
Effective print security relies on technical controls such as authentication, encryption, firmware management, network segmentation, and continuous monitoring. When applied consistently across the lifecycle, these security measures reduce the risk of unauthorized access and protect sensitive documents throughout the print environment.