I'm dealing with a mixed environment at work, including Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, and we've been facing some serious misuse of our printers. In just three months, employees have printed more than half of what we did all last year! The manager wants me to restrict printing, but I'm hitting some roadblocks. I set up a printing server on a Debian VM to control things, and that worked for the desktops, but the Lexmark MX410de printer has a whitelist that only restricts desktop computers. Phones aren't affected. I tried disabling mDNS to block the printer's network advertisement, but then it messes with our ability to scan and use AirPrint for MacBooks. I considered using CUPS or SAMBA for authentication but I'm unsure if they can block phone printing. Budget constraints mean solutions like Papercut are out of reach. What other options do I have?
1 Answer
If everything’s on the same network, that’s a red flag! Make sure personal devices can’t connect to the corporate network where the printers are. It’s worth setting up separate networks for guests and internal access.
We’re actually in the midst of separating our networks for guests and internal users. The goal is to enhance security!