The Hidden Cyber Risk in Schools

Printers may not be glamorous, but they are an often-overlooked attack vector that should be part of every district's cybersecurity strategy.

• By Charlie Sander
• 10/22/25

Cyber attacks are hitting K–12 schools with alarming regularity. From mid-2023 through 2024, more than four out of five reporting districts faced some kind of breach, such as ransomware, stolen data, or network lockouts. And still, one part of the network gets little attention: the printers.

And that blind spot matters. A 2024 Quocirca survey found that 67% of organizations reported at least one print-related data loss. Walk into any front office, and that same copier printing worksheets might also be processing student records, individualized education plans, or HR forms, all of which are protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

A breach here isn't a minor technical slip; it's a compliance problem with legal and reputational fallout. The question for districts now is simple: Why are printers still the forgotten attack vector, and what will it take to secure them?

Why Printers Are the Forgotten Attack Vector

When K–12 IT teams talk cybersecurity, the conversation usually centers on the obvious endpoints such as student laptops, classroom tablets, and the district's learning management system. Only 38% of IT decision-makers say procurement, IT, and security teams collaborate to define printer security standards.

Although printers often escape the security hygiene IT that applies elsewhere, they are, in reality, internet of things (IoT) devices with operating systems, storage, and network connectivity.

A single networked printer can serve dozens — even hundreds — of endpoints. In a one-to-one Chromebook environment, every student device typically has access to shared printers. That creates a much larger attack surface than most people realize. When one printer isn't properly secured, the risk extends beyond that single device; it potentially affects every endpoint connected to it.

Age only makes the problem worse. Legacy models often run firmware that hasn't been patched in years, carrying unaddressed vulnerabilities. Newer Wi-Fi–enabled units aren't immune either, as most ship with default logins, open ports, and services no one remembers to disable. In effect, districts are leaving unlocked doors on their networks, even as they spend heavily to secure everything else.

Locking Down Printers at the Device and Network Level

Printers don't get treated like computers, but they should. The same security discipline applies because attackers look for the easiest way in. Weak points like unchanged factory passwords or open network ports are simple to fix, yet they remain some of the biggest risks in school environments.

Eliminate default credentials. Factory-set usernames and passwords are still a glaring weakness. In 2025, Rapid7 disclosed vulnerabilities affecting 689 Brother printer models, showing how attackers could calculate a device's default admin password from its serial number. So, leaving these defaults in place is equivalent to posting a school's master key on the front door. The fix is simple: Change credentials immediately after deployment and enforce strong, unique replacements.

Keep firmware current. Unpatched firmware is a hacker's best friend. Yet only 36% of organizations apply printer firmware updates promptly, according to HP Wolf Security. In education, where devices often stay in service long past their intended lifespan, that gap is even more concerning. District IT must schedule regular printer patch cycles, subscribe to vendor alerts, and test updates in controlled environments before districtwide rollout.

Isolate printers on the network. Even hardened devices shouldn't share the same digital space as student and staff endpoints. Network segmentation, typically through a VLAN, creates a virtual fence that limits what a compromised printer can access. For example, in a one-to-one Chromebook program, a hacked printer sitting on the same subnet could provide a bridge into hundreds of student devices. By isolating printers and applying strict firewall rules, districts can contain the damage. So while the attacker may compromise the printer, they won't easily leapfrog into the wider network.

Making Printer Security Part of District Cyber Strategy

Device fixes alone won't solve the problem if printers remain absent from the district's wider security planning. So to close the gap, schools need to treat printers with the respect they deserve and as part of the same critical infrastructure that protects student records, networks, and classrooms.

With that in mind, districts can strengthen their printer security strategy by focusing on a few core practices:

• Add printers to asset inventories so districts can apply the same lifecycle management, patch policies, and penetration testing already in place for laptops and servers.
• Apply zero-trust policies so that each printer has the minimum network access required for its function. Admin panels should require role-based access, and connections to cloud services or e-mail should be carefully monitored.
• Ensure new printer vendors provide signed firmware and secure boot mechanisms; offer timely, transparent patching for vulnerabilities; support encrypted management protocols (HTTPS, IPPS, SNMPv3); and commit to end-of-life notices well in advance.
• Prepare incident response playbooks to outline the procedure of what happens if a printer is compromised. For example, who isolates the printer, how are the logs collected for forensics, and what's the reimaging or replacement procedure? Formalizing response plans for printers ensures IT teams aren't improvising under pressure.

Printer security isn't glamorous, and that makes it easy to overlook. By tying it to priorities that already matter to the district, like FERPA compliance and ransomware defense, it quickly shifts from "nice to have" to "must have." A single unsecured printer can undo millions of dollars' worth of other cybersecurity investments, giving attackers the weak link they're looking for.

As schools add more devices and cloud services, every connection point matters, including printers. So schools must treat them like the IoT devices they are, meaning they're monitored, patched, and eventually replaced when they're no longer safe to run. K–12 leaders need to close the gap now, before someone decides to exploit it for them.