Smart, Safe, Secure: What’s Actually Protecting Your Canon imagePROGRAF Printer

It’s easy to think of a large format printer as just a big peripheral sitting in the corner of the office. In reality, it’s a networked computer that happens to print — which means it’s part of your IT infrastructure, and part of your attack surface, whether anyone’s thought about it that way or not.

One simple step most businesses skip

The fix is straightforward: Canon’s Firmware Update Tool is free, covers all current and recent Canon printer models, and does the hard part for you — it automatically detects when an update is available and walks you through installing it. Some updates improve performance and lifespan, but others carry the latest imagePROGRAF security patches, so it’s worth checking regularly rather than only when something goes wrong. You can find the tool for your model here.

What’s actually protecting your printer

Beyond firmware, the Canon imagePROGRAF range (PRO, GP, TZ, TX and TM series, including the MFP variants) is built with security controls across every stage of the print process, all accessible through the control panel’s Security Settings menu.

Secure storage. The hard disk uses industry-standard AES 256 encryption to protect everything on it, including the operating system. When a job or the printer itself reaches end-of-life, four levels of secure erasure are available, with the top level meeting the German Federal Government’s VS-ITR guidelines — useful if you’re printing anything genuinely sensitive.

Shielded interface. Administrators can disable unused protocols, block the internet connection entirely, turn off USB drives and USB firmware updates, or physically remove the Wi-Fi module if the printer needs to sit in a Wi-Fi-restricted area. The principle is simple: close off any port or connection you’re not actually using.

Robust communication. Data moving between your network and the printer is protected by IEEE802.1x authentication, SNMPv3, IPSec, and SSL/TLS up to TLS 1.3 — the same class of protocols you’d expect protecting any other networked business system, not just a “big peripheral.”

Controlled management. The control panel itself can be locked down so settings can’t be changed accidentally or deliberately, while remote access via Remote UI can be split into standard and administrator levels — so a site user can check status or reprint a saved job without being able to touch security or network settings.

Protected print. This is the one most people notice day to day: PIN code printing (up to 7 digits) holds a job until the right person keys it in at the printer, IC card release via uniFLOW does the same with a card tap, and prints can be stacked face-down so a drawing or document isn’t visible to whoever walks past next.

None of this requires a security specialist to set up — most of it is a handful of settings in a menu you may not have opened yet. But it’s worth doing, especially for anything printed with client data, technical drawings, or confidential specs on it.