University printing: Secure printing across a BYOD landscape

University printing comes with its challenges. If you’ve ever managed a campus print network, you’ll know what we’re talking about. Security issues. Diverse user groups. Out-of-control cloud printing. Seasonal server stress. Legacy printers scattered across a huge campus.

It’s why print management platforms and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), where students and staff can use their own laptops, tablets, and phones to connect to printers have become so popular with university IT teams: they untangle the mess that is campus print security.

Deploy a cloud-based print management system

Start with the basics, which is a cloud-based print management system. This will give sysadmins centralised control over the whole network, including all BYOD devices. One dashboard, one point of truth, fully remote, and hybrid print capabilities.

We’ve written about cloud printing before (a lot ) but two things stand out for university printing.

First, you want to enable authentication through your existing Directory Services (either AD, LDAP, or Azure AD depending on your existing infrastructure and operating systems). Second, you can configure services like Find-Me printing , so users can send their jobs to a single print queue, whether they’re on campus or not, and release them from the nearest printer.

Integrate with University Directory Services for authentication

We touched on this above, but it’s the gold standard of campus print security. Directory integration ensures that only authorised users can access the print network. It also tracks usage, so you can start mapping print activity across users, departments, and devices (which is where print quotas come into play).

Use LDAP or SSO to integrate with systems like Microsoft Azure AD or Google Workspace. Configure your printers to require authentication via university credentials (e.g. student numbers, passwords, or ID badges) and leverage group policies to define user-specific permissions, like print quotas or access to color printing.

Set up secure WIFI and VLAN segmentation

The best practice for campus security is usually to isolate print traffic on its own network. This limits the fallout from any potential breach. So how does that work in practice?

Well, you can start by requiring BYOD devices to connect via a dedicated campus WIFI network, whether they belong to students, faculty, or guests. Segment the network itself using separate VLANs, each assigned to a specific type of traffic, such as student devices, faculty devices, printers, and IoT devices.

This isolates your printing services from general data traffic. Finally, you can use firewalls and access control lists (ACLs) to restrict access to print servers, so they can only be used by authenticated devices. Doing this will help you keep compliant with any data privacy legislation, like GDPR or FERPA.

Enable mobile printing with secure apps

With BYOD, you’re always trying to balance ease of use with security. Using mobile print apps, like PaperCut Mobility Print , allows users to easily access the print network, load up documents, and adjust print settings on the fly.

Combine this with secure print release , so that only authorized users can release print jobs at the MFD, and you’ve got an easy-to-use, end-to-end encrypted, centrally managed, remote print system. Onboarding new users is as simple as establishing their university credentials, and then letting them install the app on their BYOD device. Job done!

Harness IoT technology

In an ideal world, it’s best to think of multi-function printers (MFDs) as IoT edge devices , which means emphasising endpoint protection and real-time monitoring. With new printer models, you can use IoT-enabled card readers like RFID or NFC for authenticating student and staff IDs.

These can be integrated via print management apps, like PaperCut, for contactless authentication. There’s even the growing possibility of biometric scanners where high-security printing is required.

Lastly, look into IoT-enabled real-time monitoring, which is a great proactive security measure. Printers can be equipped with IoT sensors to monitor usage patterns and detect unusual print activity. Combine this with automated error reporting , and you can quickly spot issues as they arise.

This kind of proactive threat detection is crucial. IoT-connected printers continuously transmit operational and security data to centralised monitoring systems. Alerts are then triggered in real-time, so your sysadmins can swing into immediate action. You’ll need to factor in securing IoT endpoints to reduce the risks of unauthorised access or device tampering.

Stay compliant

Which data protection and privacy laws you’re subject to will depend on the region in which you operate. But most regulatory systems have a few things in common: secure processing of personal data, secure storage, and secure transmission.

Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for example, requires universities to be very careful with things like student records, faculty info, and research data. And when you’re printing across campuses on thousands of BYOD devices, staying compliant isn’t always easy.

This is why BYOD-friendly print management software is so crucial. It takes the guesswork out of regulatory compliance.

User Authentication: BYOD printing solutions enforce secure user authentication (usually with ID cards, or PIN codes) to ensure only authorised users can print sensitive documents.

Data Encryption: Print jobs from BYOD devices need to be encrypted during transmission to prevent interception or unauthorised access.

Audit Trails: Comprehensive logging and reporting of print activity provide a clear audit trail, demonstrating accountability for data handling.

Retention Policies: Automatic deletion of completed print jobs from the print server ensures compliance with data minimisation principles.

End-to-end encryption

Universities do a lot of confidential printing – student grades, assignments, financial information, records, etc. – so end-to-end encryption is a basic necessity, especially if you want to maintain data compliance with stuff like the GDPR. Print jobs should be encrypted in transit and at rest using secure protocols like HTTPS, IPPS, or SSL/TLS, assuming they are compatible with any legacy devices you may have.

You can read more about PaperCut’s built-in encryption over here , but in general, especially across mixed environments, we recommend deploying IPPS with PaperCut Mobility Print.

Leverage analytics

Print analytics are your IT department’s superpower, especially in complex BYOD environments. They give you full visibility and control over everything from individual user patterns to department-based toner usage. Print analytics tools can track metrics like the number of print jobs across campus, pages printed per user or department, printer utilisation rates, and types of documents printed (single-sided vs. double-sided, for example).

This allows IT to quickly spot underused (or overused) printers, enabling better load balancing and redeployment. The same goes for high-usage departments, who may need print quotas or policies enforced, or even training in sustainability and waste management.

By identifying these inefficiencies – too much single-sided printing, too much color printing, too many uncollected print jobs, and the printing of non-essential stuff – you can save money and make your print environment much more sustainable .

It’s a win/win all around.