Off-Campus Printing Still Restricted After Cybersecurity Concern
City College’s PaperCut printing service remains unavailable for off-campus access after a cybersecurity concern prompted temporary restrictions on Aug. 29. Officials said there was no indication that student payment information was compromised.
After an over 20-day restriction, City College’s student printing service PaperCut remains unavailable for off-campus access. The system continues to operate on campus, but students cannot send documents from off-campus computers or personal devices to campus printers.
Because the system involves student accounts and payment information, cybersecurity became a concern after City College was alerted to a potential network risk.
James Hall, a City College academic computing manager, said he regularly receives alerts about cybersecurity risks through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). City College reviews the warnings it receives.
Hall received an alert on Aug. 27 that raised a higher level of concern than usual. Following a few hours of maintenance by PaperCut, the company informed CISA that a vulnerability existed. CISA posted that notice. Based on that notice, City College enacted the restrictions.
Hall said the vulnerability "could potentially give someone off campus the ability to run system commands." He said, "Since we're no longer allowing off-campus access, this vulnerability has been secured."
Off-campus printing services were temporarily restricted beginning the morning of Aug. 29 while the issue was investigated.
Printing remained available on campus and at City College centers during the restriction, although off-campus functions were limited.
During the restriction period, no one complained about the printers, according to Toni Kibby-Blackburn, a library technician, and Rodney Chan, a Rosenberg Library lab technician.
The PaperCut printing service’s payment system is operated by a third-party company.
Hall said there was no indication that student payment information had been compromised. He encouraged students to protect their accounts by following good cybersecurity practices, including using strong passwords and changing them regularly.
The off-campus restrictions were implemented while the cybersecurity issue was being investigated. City College uses PaperCut multifunction copiers and printers at all locations, including the Chinatown/North Beach Center, Downtown Center, John Adams Center, Mission Center and Ocean Campus. The system has become increasingly popular since the COVID-19 pandemic, with students using both campus laboratory computers and their own devices to submit print jobs.
In August 2026, the system recorded nearly 200 active users, 16 active printers, more than 4,000 printed pages and more than 3,000 printed sheets, according to City College data.
Students can add money to their PaperCut accounts to pay for printing.
An email sent to students stated that activities involving “Student Enterprise Printing” could no longer be performed off campus during the restriction and investigation period. These activities included sending print jobs to multifunction copiers, accessing the printing dashboard, adding funds to printing accounts, setting up printing on personal devices and creating guest accounts.
