What is the Best Way to Secure Your Printers When Your Office Is on Summer Slowdown?
When summer hits and the office quiets down, many companies focus on lighter schedules, half-days and long-overdue vacations. But while employees unplug, cyber threats don’t take time off — especially when it comes to commonly overlooked devices like printers.
Printers may not seem like high-risk endpoints, but today’s cloud-connected models store data, receive remote jobs, and act as access points into broader systems. According to global leader in enterprise mobility and IoT management SOTI, the average cost of a data breach now exceeds $950,00, and containment takes nearly 277 days on average—regardless of the source. These breaches can expose highly sensitive information, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII), patient health records, payment data and internal business documentation.
As the breakroom empties and workstations go dark, now’s a good time to ensure your office printers aren’t silently opening the door to risk.
1. Pause and Power Down Where You Can
If your office sees significantly less foot traffic in summer, consider shutting down printers that won’t be used. Unused machines left powered on and connected to the network can become easy targets for remote exploitation.
A recent warning from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) highlighted how adversaries were increasingly exploiting default credentials and outdated firmware on office printers left online after hours or during closures. Even turning off non-essential printers for a few weeks could lower your organization’s exposure.
For shared devices that must stay on (such as for IT maintenance or remote employees), consider enabling sleep mode, creating power on and power off schedules and restricting print job access by user.
2. Update Firmware and Security Patches
Printers, like laptops or phones, need regular software updates. These patches often address newly discovered vulnerabilities, and skipping them can leave your network open. Delayed firmware updates give bad actors a window to exploit the flaw.
Before your summer slowdown, check your print fleet for available updates. Sharp offers downloadable firmware updates through its support portals. Consider scheduling updates during quiet periods to avoid interrupting work.
3. Limit Access to Essential Staff
Summer often means more interns, fewer full-time staff on-site, or even holiday office closures. If your printer permissions are wide open, this could spell trouble.
Make sure only essential users can print or access sensitive documents—especially if your printers support remote access or mobile printing. Restrict permissions, require PINs or ID badges for access, and log activity to keep tabs on who’s printing what.
This also applies to cloud printing services. Consider temporarily disabling remote print from personal devices unless absolutely necessary or set up guest user profiles with limited privileges.
4. Review (and Test) Remote Print Management
With hybrid work still the norm, some employees may be sending print jobs to the office while working remotely. That’s convenient, but it can also be risky if your print management system hasn’t been configured securely.
Double-check that remote access to printers is running through secure VPN connections, not open networks. If you use a print management platform, review admin settings and usage reports. Are there any unexpected print jobs? Are permissions outdated?
A quiet summer month is a great time to test your print network and patch any configuration gaps before the fall brings a spike in activity.
5. Clean Up What’s Left Behind
Even the best security settings can’t prevent human forgetfulness. A common issue in quieter months: sensitive documents left on the tray.
Encourage employees to use “pull printing” or “follow-me” printing if available—these features only release a job when the user is physically present at the machine. And if that’s not an option, post simple reminders at the printer to collect all materials promptly.
Some offices go further by setting up secure disposal bins next to printers to minimize unclaimed paperwork sitting out for days.
Don’t Let Summer Be a Blind Spot
It’s easy to think of printers as just office workhorses, but they’re smart devices connected to your network, and they deserve the same attention as any endpoint. Whether you’re a local law office or a nationwide firm, taking a few smart steps now can help keep your printers running smoothly through the season and beyond.
After all, no one wants to return from vacation to deal with a data breach.