Do you remember hearing about a little thing called Stuxnet back in 2010? It was everywhere in the news at the time. Stuxnet, considered the first “cyberweapon” to cause real-world damage, was a highly sophisticated computer worm designed to sabotage Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
What most people don’t remember about Stuxnet is how this malicious program exploited its targets: via the Windows printer spooler service ! Basically, that’s the software responsible for managing everything your computer wants to print, even if it’s just sitting in the queue.
Printer driver vulnerabilities have long been a serious problem for Microsoft. In fact, the company estimates that nearly a tenth of all Windows security issues are due to print bugs—and those are just the ones that get reported. This is why Microsoft has released Windows Protected Print.
If your organization uses Windows to interact with your printer (as most do), these changes will likely affect you. Read on to find out what’s changing and how to stay ahead of it.
What is Windows Protected Print?
Windows Protected Print is is a new Windows 11 feature that enables secure, driverless printing using the IPP-based print stack. That means it uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP), a standardized way for computers and printers to communicate, so Windows can manage printing tasks without relying on third-party drivers.
The primary benefit of this new feature is that it will reduce printer related security vulnerabilities significantly. Right now, Windows Protected Print is optional—but soon it will be enabled by default on up-to-date Windows devices. This is crucial to know, since the update could result in some printer features not working without manual intervention on your part (easy ones, which we’ll discuss in the following section).
It’s easy to feel frustrated when big changes like this come along, but ultimately, this is actually a very good thing Microsoft is doing. While the feature can be disabled, using Windows Protected Print will help keep your data safe.
As a Xerox Owner, What Do I Need To Know?
If your organization has one or more Xerox printers, there are a few critical things to understand as we move into an era of Windows Protected Print being in an “on-by-default” state.
Windows Protected Print uses universal print drivers—meaning that they work with any Mopria-certified printer. Most modern Xerox devices meet this qualification, so if your printer was made in the past 10 years, there’s a very good chance that it’s Mopria-certified. If you want to make sure, you can check the Mopria certified product list here.
However, and this is a big however, it’s possible that not all of your printer’s features will work with Microsoft’s universal print drivers. Things like duplex printing or pull printing may not function right away. Anticipating problems like this, Microsoft allows for vendors like Xerox to create Print Support Apps to resolve problems and add custom functionality. In all likelihood, you will need to get the Xerox Print and Scan Experience (XPSE) software, which is completely free.
Again, you can disable Windows Protected Print, but it’s not recommended—using XPSE is a better, safer way to proceed moving forward.
Xerox Leads in Print Security AND Compatibility – Plus, the Professional Document Solutions Team Has Your Back
Xerox has long been an industry leader in the print security space, which, as you’ve learned, is a historically unsecure space. With Xerox technology and these (arguably overdue) updates from Microsoft, the confidentiality of your data is as strong as it has ever been. Plus, you have our team at your disposal, whether it’s time to upgrade your workplace or you just have questions. Please feel free to contact us or request a free online quote.
