A little over a year ago, the IT community was hit with a massive vulnerability that affected way too many companies. It was known as CVE-2021-34527, colloquially called PrintNightmare.
Most companies still run print servers, which require spoolers to do their jobs properly. Unfortunately, this vulnerability was exposed within the spooler, allowing anyone to execute code on a network without even having to work around other network security. That meant everyone using servers was in trouble.
Thankfully, a patch was released relatively quickly. But… that fix ended up causing other problems. More patches were released and, ultimately, the final fix essentially offered companies 3 choices:
Stop printing entirely.
Manually enter admin credentials for any print changes, deployments, or problems.
Get rid of their print servers/spoolers.
Clearly, option 1 is not a long-term solution. Even companies that are moving toward a fully paperless office need time and policies in place to fully stop all printing. Even in most “paperless” offices, there are still some circumstances that require printed documents. That means that companies choosing to go this route are making choices about when it’s necessary to risk their security in order to print.
The second option is not ideal either. It takes time and resources to have your IT team constantly dealing with small print tasks previously in the hands of your general employees. Needing admin credentials to update a simple print driver is a frustrating, time-consuming issue. And employees used to having some autonomy are getting fed up with needing help to fix simple problems.
The last option may be the best choice for your company in the long run. It also takes time and resources to implement. But while it may take time and budget, more than a year of dealing with the lingering issues from the PrintNightmare vulnerability is more than enough.