Impossible to ignore, many organisations in the past few years have had to have a hard, long, look at the state of their cybersecurity, and their defences in the face of a cyber attack. Two HP experts have expressed their opinions, and predicted what organisations might be facing in 2026, as far as printers and printing is concerned.
Steve Inch, Global Senior Print Security Strategist at HP Inc. predicts Organisations will Finally Take Notice of IoT, Edge, and Print Security After a String of Attacks. Steve notes:
“After a year of high-profile attacks against connected devices, organisations will finally prioritise security for devices at the network edge. For example, security vulnerabilities allowed for remote takeovers of printers, highlighting the risks of leaving printers unprotected.
“For too long, printers have been the lowest priority on every security team’s list. Many organisations lack basic visibility and control over print infrastructure. This creates security blind spots – from exploitation attempts to insider threats, outdated firmware, malicious updates and misconfigurations, such as open ports or unchanged default credentials.
“These security gaps give threat actors a potential launchpad to not only compromise a printer and the data it holds but also other devices on the network. In the year ahead, organisations and governments will demand that endpoint devices like printers come with continuous and active system monitoring throughout their lifecycle.
“To defend the Future of Work, organizations need to secure their complete device ecosystem, including their printers. They should prioritise the ability to automate print fleet security compliance and automatically assess fleet firmware vulnerability status, minimising IT overhead in 2026.”
Thalia Laing, Principal Cryptographer at HP Security Lab predicts: Quantum Resistance will Become a Vendor Requirement. Thalia notes:
“A year on from the introduction of new NIST standards for quantum-resistant asymmetric cryptography, public sector and critical infrastructure companies are going to accelerate planning and vendor engagements to chart a path towards migration. This process will reveal the scale of the challenge: with NIST intending to deprecate RSA-2048 by 2030 and all RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography by 2035, many vendors are likely to seize the opportunity to move directly from RSA-2048 to quantum resistant algorithms, particularly in critical industries and long-life systems, such as hardware.
“With ongoing advances in quantum computing, the prospect of a quantum computer capable of breaking asymmetric cryptography within a decade is becoming increasingly plausible. The US government’s decision to set a quantum-resistance deadline of 2027 for new National Security System devices signals this urgency.
“To become quantum resilient, organisations must start by preparing their long-lived hardware, including their printers and PCs. With a typical commercial PC refresh averaging at just over 4 years and an even longer lifespan for office-class commercial printers – devices procured in 2026 have the potential to be in use within the timeframe of a cryptographically relevant quantum computer.
“From 2026 onwards, quantum resilience will increasingly influence hardware procurement decisions. This will increase pressure on device manufacturers to future-proof their devices by embedding quantum resistant cryptography into their products, while pushing for the protection of long-life data. By embedding quantum resilience now, organizations can maintain trust in the technologies shaping the Future of Work.”
