Secure Cloud Printing | Pharos Cloud

What is Secure Cloud Printing and How Does It Work?

Secure cloud printing (also referred to as secure print release, Follow Me printing, or pull printing) is a feature that allows users to send a document to a printer, but hold the document in a queue until the user is physically present at the printer to release it.

This can help to prevent sensitive or confidential documents from being left unclaimed and potentially seen by unauthorized individuals.

To release a document that has been sent to a secure printer, the user typically needs to enter a PIN or use a card reader at the printer to authenticate themselves. Some secure release print systems also allow users to release documents from a computer or mobile device using a web interface.

Continue reading about secure cloud printing.

Benefits of Secure Printing

Secure printing is a useful feature for organizations that handle sensitive or confidential documents and want to ensure that they are only printed and released to authorized individuals.

Compliance, Confidentiality and Data Security

Secure release printing ensures that sensitive or confidential documents are only printed by authorized individuals, preventing unauthorized access or disclosure.

This is especially important in industries that have strict regulations and industry standards requiring the protection of sensitive information. By mitigating the risk of print jobs being left at the printer, secure printing helps ensure this confidentiality and compliance.

Auditing and Tracking

Implementing secure release technology allows administrators to track and audit document printing, providing a record of who printed what and when.

Expense Reduction

Requiring additional authorization at the print device can reduce printing costs by preventing waste and unnecessary printing of documents.

Old Way

Mapping to specific printers, managing vendor print drivers and searching for the correct device
Sensitive information may be left unattended at the printer—posing a security risk
Wasted toner and paper from unneeded documents left forgotten and abandoned for days at the printer

With Pharos Secure Release

Release print jobs at any secured device without mapping to specific printers or managing drivers
Print jobs are not released until the correct user or delegate authenticates at the device
Print jobs that aren’t released are automatically purged after an Admin-set period of time

What Our Customers Say

“Protecting confidential information is key but the real eye opener was how much we immediately saved on print just by getting rid of our print servers and all the time we used to spend maintaining them.”

IT Director

What Our Customers Say

“It was hard to believe how easy it was to secure our copiers and printers. I was able to lock down all of our devices in two separate buildings in about an hour.”

IT Director at Global Retailer

Submit From Anywhere

Submit print jobs from any network and retrieve them at any Pharos-secured printer on the company network.

Built-in Failover

Built-in failover to direct print workflow enables business continuity as long as there is LAN connectivity.

Delegate Print Capabilities

Enables other authorized users to release documents on your behalf.

Secure Scanning

Digitize and automate workflows with integrated scanning capabilities.

Reduce Help Desk Obligations

Provide users with a consistent and intuitive printing experience so your help desk can benefit from fewer help tickets to manage.

Easy to Configure

Pharos Secure Release has a streamlined setup process that reduces complexity for IT teams.

How Pharos Secure Pull Printing Solution Works

The print job is encrypted and parked on the user workstation after it is submitted.
Depending on tenant configuration, a backup copy of the encrypted job can be sent and stored securely in the Cloud.
When the authorized user successfully authenticates at a secured printer, Pharos Cloud identifies an available Print Scout to deliver the print job from where it is stored to the printer .

Download this Brochure on Pharos Secure Release

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why should I migrate my print management to the cloud?

Managing traditional print infrastructure is time-consuming and costly. With Pharos Secure Release, you can:

Eliminate print servers and their potential vulnerabilities.
Eliminate vendor print drivers by supporting all print devices with Pharos’ universal print driver.
Enhance document security by preventing documents from being left unattended at the printer.
Reduce waste, as well as the cost of managing your print infrastructure.

Are print jobs stored in the cloud?

With Pharos Cloud’s Secure Release workflow, a copy of a print job is temporarily stored in the cloud if the cloud backup option is enabled. This allows the print job to be released even if the originating workstation is offline or does not have network line of sight to the printer by routing it to the printer through another available Print Scout. Organizations can prevent print jobs from being stored in the cloud by not enabling cloud backup. In this case, however, the user will not be able to release the job if the originating workstation is offline or does not have network line of sight to the printer.

For non-Print Scout submissions (iOS, iPadOS, Android, Chrome OS, Linux), the document will always be stored in the Pharos Cloud.

Pharos Cloud’s licensable Data Privacy and Regional Document Storage capability helps global organizations adhere to local data privacy and data sovereignty requirements by providing 21 different global regions where Administrators can control 1) what print job information is collected for reporting purposes and 2) where Secure Release print jobs are stored in the cloud at rest.

How does Pharos Secure Release enhance security?

Documents left unattended at the print device introduce risk if sensitive information gets into the wrong hands. But in addition to preventing sensitive documents from being exposed, Pharos Secure Release:

Eliminates print servers from the equation, removing an attack surface hackers could use to disseminate malware
Secures data with end-to-end encryption
Supports zero trust security principles

How does Pharos’ universal print driver improve productivity?

Traditional environments connect employee computers to the print server and queue via a driver. When a vendor’s driver is updated, IT staff need to update it, which can be especially time-consuming if you have a large printer fleet from multiple manufacturers. Pharos’ “universal” print driver supports thousands of printer models—from low-volume, single-function printers to high-volume, multifunction devices across all manufacturers.

With only a single package to manage, Pharos requires only a fraction of the administrative overhead of traditional driver management. In addition, its common user interface simplifies printing for employees and troubleshooting for IT staff.

How does Pharos Secure Release reduce the burden on help desk employees?

A universal print driver providing a consistent and intuitive printing experience across platforms to a multi-vendor fleet reduces user training, user frustration, and troubleshooting vectors for the Help Desk.

Can Pharos Secure Release work with mobile devices?

Yes. Because Pharos Release works in a cloud environment, it can support a variety of devices and operating systems. This means iOS, Android, and other operating systems can be used to submit print jobs, giving employees the freedom to initiate the printing process from wherever they are—at or away from their desks. Mobile devices can also be used to release print jobs via QR code scan.