Best Practices for Securing 3D Printing Environments in Shared Labs

Hello folks,

I’ve been working on securing shared 3D printing labs in industrial and educational settings lately. Managing networked printers, storage servers, and remote monitoring can be surprisingly tricky.

Here are some tips that have worked well for us:

Keep firmware and software on printers and controllers always up to date.

Use segmented VLANs or subnets to isolate printer traffic from general lab networks.

Deploy motion sensors or surveillance cameras in rooms where printers are active—especially when machines are idle overnight.

Require strong authentication (e.g. unique credentials per user) for all access points or remote configuration consoles.

I’m with United Security Systems, and we often assist labs with integrating security hardware into industrial environments. If someone’s looking to integrate surveillance or secure remote access for 3D workshops, feel free to ask—I’d be happy to help without pushing any one solution.

Cheers,