How secured printing services protect sensitive data in hybrid workplaces

Hybrid work has changed how teams create, share and print information. As employees move between offices, home workspaces and on-the-go environments, unmanaged print workflows can expose confidential data without proper security.

With managed, secured printing services, sensitive data has a higher chance of staying protected in hybrid workplaces due to security-by-design processes, technology and governance. Businesses with layers of security will benefit by using authentication, encryption in transit and at rest, and policy-based access across every location.

Let’s look at the unique risks to distributed teams and practical steps to build a resilient, compliant print environment.

Understanding the risks in hybrid work

Hybrid workplaces blend corporate networks, home WiFi, personal devices and cloud platforms, expanding the potential attack surface for print data. Print jobs can travel over unsecured connections, arrive on shared office devices or remain unclaimed in output trays — each creating an opportunity for unauthorized viewing or misuse.

Common vulnerabilities include:

• Unencrypted print traffic

• Misconfigured queues or drivers

• Outdated firmware on unmanaged printers

• Shared devices without secure print release

Shadow IT — consumer-grade printers or unsanctioned apps — can bypass corporate controls, complicate compliance, and hamper incident response. In a remote context, the absence of secured remote printing policies can result in sensitive documents routing through unsafe paths to printers or scanners that could expose sensitive information.

The impact is real. Even a single confidential report left on a device can lead to outsized risk in a distributed environment. Documents containing personal identifiable information (PII), financial records, contracts, or protected health information may be viewed, copied or discarded improperly if left unattended or uncleared on a device. Breaches trigger regulatory penalties, harm brand reputation, and erode trust.

According to one recent study, which surveyed over 800 IT and security decision-makers, respondents revealed that only 36% of IT teams apply printer firmware updates promptly, despite spending time on updates for 3.5 hours per month, per printer. ¹ Without timely firmware updates, this can expose organizations to risk.

Strengthening your security posture

Printing remains essential in many industries, such as financial services, legal, government, and healthcare. Many departments, like human resources and accounting, also continue to require printed documents as part of their everyday workflows.

Secured, managed printing services operationalize zero trust in the print environment by continuously verifying identity, segmenting access, and limiting privileges based on context. This reduces the risk of data exfiltration, insider misuse, and accidental exposure while improving resilience.

By consolidating print management and enforcing consistent controls across locations, organizations can align print security with broader initiatives such as endpoint hardening, identity and access management and data loss prevention.

The result is a stronger, auditable environment that supports compliance, reduces waste, and enhances employee experience with reliable, secured workflows. For distributed teams, secured remote printing ensures sensitive data remains protected wherever work happens.

Best practices for implementing print security

A methodical and layered deployment strengthens security without disrupting productivity. Our approach emphasizes standardized devices, consistent policies and continuous monitoring — designed to meet zero-trust expectations and support secured remote printing.

• Assessment and discovery: Inventory printers and multifunction devices, map print paths and classify document types by sensitivity. Identify unmanaged devices, shadow IT and high-risk workflows.

• Standardize and centralize: Adopt enterprise-grade devices with security certifications and centralize management through a cloud or on-premises platform. Enable secured print release across shared devices and configure encryption by default.

• Identity integration: Connect to your identity provider to support single sign-on and multifactor authentication. Enforce role-based policies across office, remote, and mobile users.

• Policy enforcement: Define rules for color, duplex, and sensitive classifications. Restrict scan-to-email and USB printing where appropriate. Set retention limits and auto-deletion for queued jobs.

• Employee enablement: Train employees on securing queues, authentication at release and proper handling: retrieve immediately, avoid leaving documents in trays and use secured bins for disposal. Provide clear guidance to avoid consumer printers for sensitive jobs.

• Continuous improvement: Schedule firmware updates and patches, review access policies regularly, and audit logs for anomalies such as unusually large jobs or after-hours releases. Test incident response for misrouted or misplaced documents.

Ricoh complements these practices with managed print services for device hardening, certificate management, analytics, and ongoing optimization. Centralized reporting offers visibility into usage, compliance readiness and potential savings, empowering proactive adjustments as regulations and business processes evolve.

What secured printing services can offer for hybrid workplaces

Security needs to follow the job from creation through release, print, storage, and disposal ― with zero-trust. Our managed printing services deliver consistent, enterprise-grade controls across office and remote workflows, supporting secured remote printing and ongoing compliance.

Here are key controls we implement:

• End-to-end encryption for print jobs in transit and at rest

• Pull (follow-me) printing that holds jobs until the user authenticates at a device

• Role-based access aligned to corporate identity and group policies

• Comprehensive audit logging for traceability and accountability

• Automated job deletion to prevent abandoned output and reduce retention risk

• Integration with identity providers and mobile device management platforms

• Alerts to update firmware on devices and administrative control over inbound and outbound faxes

In hybrid settings, secured remote printing ensures jobs submitted offsite are encrypted, routed through approved paths and released only with user verification at the destination device. The combined efforts also reduce leakage and improve cost control.

Hybrid work is here to stay, here’s what you can do to safeguard your print environment

As distributed work continues to shape business operations, so does the responsibility to protect sensitive data. By investing in managed, secured printing services and enabling secured remote printing, organizations can maintain compliance, safeguard information and empower employees to work confidently from anywhere. For an assessment of your fleet or to speak with a print security expert, please contact us.