Secure Print That Doesn’t Slow Users Down

Your print environment is one of the easiest places for sensitive information to slip through the cracks. An employee might send a confidential report to the printer, where it sits in the output tray where anyone can pick it up. A contractor might print from a home network, meaning the job travels outside your usual controls. A guest might need a visitor form, so they ask the front desk for help. Each moment is small, but each one is also an opening.

These are serious risks, but how do you tighten print security without making printing painful for the people who depend on it? Lock things down too far and users find workarounds. Leave things open and sensitive data goes unprotected.

The Advanced Security Add-on (ASA) is built to solve exactly that. It ensures that all printed information stays secure until it reaches the printer tray, while end users keep the convenient printing experience they expect. 

The ASA brings together seven capabilities:

• Secure Release Printing/Pull Printing

• Delegated Release

• Offline Secure Release Printing

• Off-Network Printing

• Off-Network Cloud Printing

• Mobile App Print Release

• Web Print

Together, they support Zero Trust initiatives and let people print conveniently from anywhere.

The heart of the ASA is secure printing. Print jobs are held until the user is ready to release them, so sensitive documents never sit unattended in the tray. Secure printing includes both Pull Printing and Secure Release Printing to a targeted device.

It also includes Offline Secure Release Printing. Even if the workstation that initiated a job goes offline, users can still release their print jobs. A closed laptop or a dropped connection no longer means a lost print job.

How to Release a Job

• Control Panel Application (CPA): Installed directly on your multifunction devices (MFDs), the CPA lets users view and release held jobs at the printer. 

• Mobile App Print Release: View and release jobs in the Vasion Mobile App, or scan a QR code linked to a printer to view and release held jobs for a completely touchless experience.

• Simple Badge Release: Swipe an employee-assigned badge to print the most recent job or all jobs in the queue, depending on your configuration. 

• Browser-based Release: Any device with a web browser can release print jobs securely.

What if some of your printers don't support the CPA? You still have options. Mobile App Print Release doesn't require a CPA on the target printer at all. It's nearly as convenient as badge release (fast and always available), and it works on a less expensive, simple network printer without the added cost of badge readers. The QR code feature also makes it easy for users to identify exactly where they want their job to print.

Real teams don't work in isolation. Executive assistants print for executives. Colleagues cover for each other. Too often, that leads to shared logins and risky workarounds.

Delegated Release solves this securely. When sending a print job, the original user (the initiator) can hold it for themselves or assign it to one or more approved delegates. Those delegates can then release the job from the Control Panel Application, the Mobile App, or the Release Portal.

For IT, every action is logged. You see who initiated the job, who released it, and when. That improves accountability and enforces secure document handling without slowing users down or adding complexity.

Hybrid work means remote employees, temporary contractors, and affiliate partners all need access to printers to do their jobs. Off-Network Printing supports them through Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA). Users get open access to printing, and your network stays secure because every user must authenticate before printing, every time, no matter what.

Off-Network Cloud Printing

Off-Network Cloud Printing differs in how print job data travels. It eliminates local infrastructure, like the Internal Routing Service, between the cloud and the networked printer. Data is encrypted and held temporarily at rest in the cloud until the ONCP App running on the printer downloads the job and prints it.

Guests, students, and visitors need to print too. Web Print lets external users upload and print documents directly from a web browser, with no additional software or drivers and no IT involvement.

It's secure by design. Web Print supports Secure Release Printing for guests using Off-Network Cloud Printing to safeguard sensitive documents. Administrators can force all print jobs to be held for secure release, and guests can release them only through the CPA by entering a release code sent by email. Guests, students, and even employees can print conveniently without compromising network security.

The best way to understand how the ASA fits your environment is to see it. Schedule a demo to learn how the Advanced Security Add-on can strengthen your print security, support your Zero Trust goals, and keep your users productive.