Millions of printers open to devastating hack attack, researchers say

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Jack

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MSNBC said:
Could a hacker from half-way around the planet control your printer and give it instructions so frantic that it could eventually catch fire? Or use a hijacked printer as a copy machine for criminals, making it easy to commit identity theft or even take control of entire networks that would otherwise be secure?

It’s not only possible, but likely, say researchers at Columbia University, who claim they've discovered a new class of computer security flaws that could impact millions of businesses, consumers, and even government agencies.

Printers can be remotely controlled by computer criminals over the Internet, with the potential to steal personal information, attack otherwise secure networks and even cause physical damage, the researchers argue in a vulnerability warning first reported by msnbc.com. They say there's no easy fix for the flaw they’ve identified in some Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer lines – and perhaps on other firms’ printers, too – and there's no way to tell if hackers have already exploited it.

The researchers, who have working quietly for months in an electronics lab under a series of government and industry grants, described the flaw in a private briefing for federal agencies two weeks ago. They told Hewlett-Packard about it last week.
HP said Monday that it is still reviewing details of the vulnerability, and is unable to confirm or deny many of the researchers’ claims, but generally disputes the researchers’ characterization of the flaw as widespread. Keith Moore, chief technologist for HP's printer division, said the firm "takes this very seriously,” but his initial research suggests the likelihood that the vulnerability can be exploited in the real world is low in most cases.

“Until we verify the security issue, it is difficult to comment,” he said, adding that the firm cannot say yet what printer models are impacted.

But the Columbia researchers say the security vulnerability is so fundamental that it may impact tens of millions of printers and other hardware that use hard-to-update “firmware” that’s flawed.

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Jack

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WinAndLinuxTutorials said:
Bad news. :( Now I have to agree with Win7Holic, that hackers will soon have the ability to hack our brain. :p
Turns out that the risk was highly exagerated by this researches, HP says that the 'Thermal Breakers' installed in printers will prevent them from getting on fire...


HP: 'Thermal Breakers' Installed in Printers Prevent Fires


After Columbia University researchers demonstrated a series of attack methods that rely on vulnerabilities found in HP LaserJet printers, Hewlett Packard came forward with a statement to argue that it’s not as bad as it looks.

According to DailyTech, the company claims that so far no customers reported anything that would indicate a device catching on fire as a result of a malevolent software update.

“HP LaserJet printers have a hardware element called a 'thermal breaker' that is designed to prevent the fuser from overheating or causing a fire. It cannot be overcome by a firmware change or this proposed vulnerability,” HP states.

On the other hand, they admit that some of the vulnerabilities that could allow unauthorized access may be plausible, but the attack only works on machines that are placed in a public network that doesn’t benefit from the protection offered by a firewall.

“In a private network, some printers may be vulnerable if a malicious effort is made to modify the firmware of the device by a trusted party on the network. In some Linux or Mac environments, it may be possible for a specially formatted corrupt print job to trigger a firmware upgrade,” the statement adds.

It seems as they are already working on a firmware upgrade that will mitigate the issue, but in the meantime, their customers are advised to secure the devices by placing them behind a firewall and by disabling the remote firmware upload when possible.

As it turns out, most printers do have the “thermal breaker” HP was talking about, so it remains uncertain as to what models may be set on fire as a result of a malicious operation.

While HP keeps stating that the attacks would only work on Mac and Linux systems, printers connected to Windows devices not being susceptible to an attack, in reality, a Windows-running machine could always be fitted with a Linux partition from where the attack could take place.

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Prorootect

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Nov 5, 2011
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My 'Print Spooler' service I have in 'Manual' since many years .. It's my Prorootect's tweak!

It's security measure for everyone, please!:cool:
 
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