securely setting up printers

[jsvidyad]

Hello,

I have a question regarding which way is more secure for setting up printers. The two options I have are:
1) The administrative user(the person with sudo privileges) can set up the printer for all users. Other normal users are NOT allowed to set up printers.
2) An individual user(normal desktop user with NO administrative sudo privileges) can be allowed to set up printers by suitably editing his account privileges.

Which option do you think is more secure?

[Ms. Daisy]

Is this a network printer or is it directly plugged into the computer?

[jsvidyad]

They are all network printers.

[2F4U]

This is the same topic Linus Torvalds was venting about a couple of month ago. The traditional and more secure way is to only let an account with administrative privileges do the setup, but often it is more convenient for the user if he/she can do it.

[jsvidyad]

Which option is more secure? I will go with the secure option.

[HermanAB]

Does it really matter? I agree with Linus that users should be able to configure printers.

[Ms. Daisy]

Which option is more secure? I will go with the secure option.

You'll have to make that decision based on who's using your network. Do you have lots of "guests?" If so, then you probably don't want everyone to have access. Is it just your trusted family using the network? Then you can probably give them all access.

Do you have wifi on the network? Is it password protected WPA2? Is it "free wifi" & accessible by anyone? The answers to these questions will result in different security needs.

Also consider whether everyone using the network would even know how to properly set up a printer. Would it make sense from a usability standpoint for the administrator (you) to set up the printers for everyone, then just allow the folks access to an already set-up printer? Why does everyone need to set up a printer in the first place? Remember the basic principle to always give least privileges necessary.