For many businesses, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to manage their print server infrastructure with traditional solutions.
While enterprise printing has always been a challenge for IT departments, the impact of the 2021 PrintNightmare vulnerability, amongst others, has prompted more organizations to consult other methods, such as deploying a cloud-based print server or to utilize cloud printing software.
Why the PrintNightmare Vulnerability Makes The Switch to a Print Server Alternative More Urgent
Windows print servers are easy to set up, but difficult to maintain. Users often don’t know what’s wrong when their print job doesn’t run from the device. It is not uncommon for a helpdesk ticket to be opened directly, which places an unnecessary burden on the IT department because the problems are usually minor.
To make things worse, the PrintNightmare vulnerability (CVE-2021-34527) was discovered in July 2021 and allowed hackers to execute an error code on Windows desktop and server systems. As a result, attackers were able to install software, access data, and interfere with user account creation.
Although over a year has since passed, Microsoft is still dealing with the issue, with the latest update being released in the summer of 2022.
Furthermore, some updates require administrator rights for the respective system in order to install or update new printer drivers. For organizations with a large number of printers at multiple locations, the changes brought about by the PrintNightmare patch made the already difficult administration even more cumbersome.
Less Hassle – Consider Cloud Printing Software
Cloud-based printing solutions help the IT department gain more insight into users’ printing problems on their system. Furthermore, users are given more control over their print jobs and companies get a detailed overview of what costs are incurred by printing through better analysis possibilities.
While other cloud printing vendors offer individual enhancements to the classic Windows print servers, ezeep Blue enables an all-in-one solution which can also be set up so that no print servers are required at all.
Replacing Print Servers with the ezeep Hub – The Tiny Print Server Appliance
Almost like a serverless print server, we designed a tiny print server appliance called the ezeep Hub for exactly this kind of enterprise demand. It connects any printer to the cloud in an instant and replaces local Windows print servers inexpensively.
In addition to allowing you to forget about PrintNightmare, a cloud-based print server like the Hub also saves you from the high acquisition, operation and maintenance costs of print servers and therefore significantly reduces the workload on IT staff in companies. With just a few clicks, printers and users are created and centrally managed in the intuitive web portal.
100% Free From Printer Driver Management
An interesting feature of the ezeep Hub is that all print jobs are rendered in the cloud. Thanks to a pool of over 6000 printer drivers hosted in the cloud and expandable on demand, the ezeep Hub can create a 100% driver-free infrastructure for devices. This gives you the freedom to choose which printer or devices should be used in your organization.
At the same time, the vulnerability of the print infrastructure is reduced, because with ezeep Blue no printers are accessible from the Internet and only one port is used. For zero-trust strategies, a solution like ezeep Blue is mandatory, as it is the only way to ensure that access to a printer is only ever authorized. The ezeep Hub, the ezeep Blue Cloud and our Secure Pull Printing process ensure that constant authorization and authentication for access to data points takes place. In addition, network printers become addressable without having to connect them to another physical device or network.
The ezeep Hub
More information on pricing and how to test an ezeep Hub here!