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Does anyone know if I print something on a remote machine to a local printer via remote desktop RDP on a public network, is the content of the print job encrypted?
Jason
Posted 2015-10-07T18:18:56.993
Reputation: 23
How secure is printing via RDP
Answers
3
RDP traffic is authenticated and encrypted using TLS, as of NT 6 (Vista / Server 2008); NT 5.2 (Server 2003 / XP x64) would use encryption opportunistically but it could be downgraded via man-in-the-middle attacks. Thus, transferring the data you will print to the RDP server will be protected (unless you're using a really old RDP server).
Whether the data between the RDP server and the printer is secure depends on how the RDP server and the printer are connected and what protocol they use to communicate. However, you'd face that question whether you were using RDP or not, so I think the question has been answered.
CBHacking
Posted 2015-10-07T18:18:56.993
Reputation: 5 045
+1 for this. And here's a related SU question: Is windows remote desktop secure?
– Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-10-07T18:37:36.7671so everything is encrypted whether it's the screen, printer, or clipboard... when RDP between a windows 8.1 and a windows 10 machine – Jason – 2015-10-07T18:53:57.120
@Jason yes, although if you can't authenticate the server's certificate (by default, RDP servers use self-signed certs that you can trust on first use, much like SSH) then an attacker could be launching a man-in-the-middle attack. – CBHacking – 2015-10-07T19:16:22.017
If you mean printing from the remote machine then it is just as secure as sitting at that computer and printing. I'm not positive that I understand your question though. – EBGreen – 2015-10-07T18:31:12.507