Cybersecurity and Printing: The Poster in the Break Room

There's a genuine irony here: one of the most disruptive Windows vulnerabilities of the last decade lived inside the print system itself. But the more useful connection between cybersecurity and printing isn't the vulnerability, it's the print material every security-conscious workplace still relies on to keep people alert.

PrintNightmare: When the Printer Was the Weak Point

In mid-2021, security researchers disclosed CVE-2021-34527, quickly nicknamed PrintNightmare: a flaw in the Windows Print Spooler, present on effectively every Windows machine, that let an attacker run code with full system privileges. It carried a severity score of 8.8 out of 10, and Microsoft rushed out emergency patches within days of disclosure. It's a genuinely useful reminder that even the most mundane background service, the one that quietly manages print jobs, can become a serious security risk if left unpatched.

Where Print Actually Defends Against Attacks

Most cybersecurity awareness work still happens on paper, deliberately. IT teams and security consultants use printed posters in break rooms and near workstations, precisely because they're always visible in a way an email reminder isn't: "spot the phishing email," "never share your password," "lock your screen." Printed materials don't get lost in an inbox, and they work as ambient, repeated reminders rather than a one-off message people read once and forget.

Security Firms Need the Same Print Everyone Else Does

Behind the technical work, IT security consultancies and managed service providers are small businesses like any other, needing business cards, branded stationery, and signage for the security conferences and trade events that make up a good chunk of how the industry actually sells its services.

Where This Shows Up in What We Print

Office awareness posters and signage through our large format & signage range, and business stationery for IT and security consultancies through business stationery & publications.

Frequently asked questions

What was PrintNightmare?

CVE-2021-34527, a 2021 vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler that allowed attackers to run code with full system privileges, rated 8.8 out of 10 for severity.

Why do offices still use printed security awareness posters?

Printed posters stay visible in a way a single email doesn't, working as a repeated, ambient reminder rather than a message read once and forgotten.

Do you print office signage and security posters?

Yes, through our large format signage range, alongside business stationery for IT and security consultancies.

A Second Print Spooler Story, Eleven Years Before PrintNightmare

PrintNightmare was not the first time the humble print queue made security headlines. In September 2010 Microsoft issued bulletin MS10-061 to close a Print Spooler flaw that the Stuxnet worm had used to spread between Windows machines. The lesson both times is the same: a service that exists only to move documents to paper is still software with privileges, and it needs updating like everything else. If your office still has an old networked printer that nobody has touched since it was plugged in, ask whoever looks after your IT to check its firmware and its stored data settings.

The Original Security Poster Campaign

Workplace awareness posters did not begin with phishing. In 1940 Britain's Ministry of Information published the "Careless Talk Costs Lives" series, drawn by the cartoonist Cyril Kenneth Bird, known as Fougasse. The posters showed ordinary people in ordinary places, such as a bus or a railway carriage, saying something they should not while unseen listeners leaned in. The idea was to put a single repeatable warning where people actually spent their day. Modern awareness posters follow the same logic, only the subject has changed from loose talk to loose clicks.

Dates That Shape the Awareness Calendar

Many organisations time their posters and staff briefings around fixed campaigns, so it helps to know them:

• European Cyber Security Month began as a pilot in October 2012 and is held every October, so October is the natural month to refresh what is on your walls.
• The UK government's Cyber Essentials scheme went live in June 2014. It is built around five basic controls: firewalls, secure configuration, security update management, user access control and malware protection. Those five headings make a clear structure for a poster series.
• The National Cyber Security Centre runs a Suspicious Email Reporting Service, launched in April 2020 as part of the Cyber Aware campaign. Its reporting instructions are on the NCSC website, and they are worth copying exactly from there, not from memory, if you want them on a printed notice.

Designing a Poster People Actually Read

A poster is not a policy document. These habits tend to work:

• One message per sheet. "Lock your screen when you leave" is a poster; a list of twelve rules is a handbook page.
• Large type and a short line that can be read from a doorway.
• Rotate the artwork. A poster that has hung in the same place for a year becomes wallpaper, so plan a small series and swap them.
• Put each one where the behaviour happens: near the printer, by the kettle, beside the door that people hold open for strangers.
• Check every instruction against your own IT policy before printing, because a poster that contradicts the real procedure is worse than no poster.
• Keep real passwords, internal addresses and live screenshots out of the artwork. A poster is visible to cleaners, couriers and visitors.

Clothing and Signage at Security Events

Trade shows and training days are where security firms meet buyers. Matching polos or T-shirts help a small stand team look coordinated, and a printed banner or display stand tells passers-by in seconds what the company does. Be realistic about what clothing is for, though: a printed polo identifies a team, it does not authenticate anyone. Any organisation worried about impersonation should rely on proper passes and checked procedures, with clothing as a friendly visual extra. If you plan a team order, the group order guide explains how to collect names and sizes without chasing people, and our flags, banners and display stands guide covers the event signage side.

A Note on Sending Artwork Safely

Printing involves sharing files, and files can carry more than you intend. Before you send artwork for a poster or shirt, strip hidden metadata, remove draft comments and exported layers you do not need, and do not include anything in the design that you would not want a stranger to read. Send only what is needed for the print. Ask us which file formats print best before you export.

Small IT Firms and Their Printed Basics

Many managed service providers and freelance consultants are one-to-five person businesses. Their printed needs are modest and practical: a leaflet explaining what a monthly support agreement covers, a sticker with a helpdesk number to put on client equipment, a clean business card for a networking event, a hi-vis waistcoat or branded polo for site visits to a client's server room. Because the work is trust-based, tidy and consistent print matters more than clever print. Use the same logo, colours and contact details everywhere, and ask for a proof to check spelling of every name and number before anything is produced. Our flyer, card and stationery guide is a good starting point.

Did Stuxnet really involve a printer?

It exploited a vulnerability in the Windows Print Spooler service, patched in Microsoft bulletin MS10-061 in September 2010, as one of several ways to spread between machines. The printers themselves were not the target; the Windows service that manages print jobs was.

Who designed the "Careless Talk Costs Lives" posters?

Cyril Kenneth Bird, who worked under the name Fougasse, produced a well-known series for the Ministry of Information in 1940. They are still collected and reproduced today.

How often should an office change its security posters?

There is no official rule. A sensible approach is to rotate a small set on a regular schedule, for example when a new campaign or awareness month begins, so the messages stay noticeable.