Hackers can take over your printer: Here’s how to stop them

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Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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The other day,I wrote about IoTand how we are at risk if we do not keep ourselves safe from the Internet of Things. In it, I said that people should think of anything connected to the internet in the same way as we think of a computer. Finally, I said that if you can connect a wireless device to your computer, and someone can hack that device, then that same person can hack your computer as well. And that is why I would like to talk today about whyupdating yourprinteris so important.

In the previous article, I think I gave the example of a digital camera. As I said, in this article, I want to talk aboutprintersbecause they are by far one of the biggest threats to a company or home computer network. Read on and I’ll explain in more detail.

Why updating your printer is not an optional extra

For years and years,printerswere connected to computers in the same way that keyboards and mouses were, a USB cable ran from the side of theprinterto the back of a computer and that was that. Like thekeyboard and mouse, there were no wireless connections, and everyone was more or less safe.

Everything started to disconnect

Then things started to become disconnected. You no longer needed to plug keyboards and mouses in with a USB cable. The USB still existed, of course, but it was in the form off a wireless connection. The only place where you are like to still be given a mouse or keyboard with a cable is in a really bad workplace, like a school.

Printersbeing disconnected from computers was the natural next step and so it happened. The problem is that many companies and homes look at aprinterin the same way as a mouse or keyboard. Something that is connected to the internet but ‘not really’. This means that while network computers will almost certainly be updated on a regular basis,printerswill not as they are not seen as a threat in the same way as a virus infecting a computer directly.

How one hacker infected 150,000 printers

You can read an interesting report on how onewhite-hat hacker managed to affect 150,000 printers. He got all theprintersto print pictures of robots with text saying they (theprinters) were now part of a botnet. It wasn’t true, but it was quite amusing. True, this was last year but I bet if you ask your company’s IT department if they have updated all the company’sprintersin the past month, most will say no.

And if you don’t think this is true, Britain’s NHS was almost brought to a standstill overWannacrylast year because no one had bothered to update the computers (not theprinters) with a critical update that was issued by Microsoft two MONTHS before theransomewareattack.

Wrapping it all up

The lesson here is obvious. One printer may well be connected to hundreds of computers. Companies must make sure that theirprintersare up-to-date. This is not a difficult job or even particularly time-consuming, but it is extremely important. This goes for people who haveprinterswirelessly connected at home as well. You are not immune from attack.

Have you made the mistake of not updating aprinterwhich led to an attack? If you have, what was the result? Let us know in the comments below.

Hackers can take over your printer: Here’s how to stop them#

Why updating your printer is not an optional extra#

Everything started to disconnect#

How one hacker infected 150,000 printers#

Wrapping it all up#

Hackers can take over your printer: Here’s how to stop them

Why updating your printer is not an optional extra

Everything started to disconnect

How one hacker infected 150,000 printers

Wrapping it all up