Warning that businesses may be attacked by hackers through printers
Not only smartphones or computers, even printers are now targets that can be attacked by hackers to steal data.
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| Mr. Junaid UR Rehman. |
According to information shared by Mr. Junaid UR Rehman from HP at the Security World 2017 conference recently held in Hanoi, in the current IoT (Internet of Things) era, not only smartphones or computers, but even printers can be attacked by hackers to penetrate the network systems of businesses and organizations to steal data and carry out malicious intentions...
Modern printers today are no different from computers, using operating systems, memory, hard drives, network connections...
Some risks include hackers accessing the printer's internal memory (with modern machines), installing hidden code, stealing documents stored on the machine; changing printing settings to redirect printing to a certain printer, saving copies of documents.
In addition, hackers can copy and steal data transmitted from the computer to the printer when printing over the network.
Even by attacking printers that can connect to the Internet (via both Wi-Fi and wired), hackers can completely attack the computer systems of businesses and organizations.
To demonstrate this risk, at the Security World 2017 conference, Mr. Junaid UR Rehman performed a series of scans on printers in Vietnam.
The expert's actions showed that in less than 1 minute, hundreds of printers being used in Vietnamese businesses and organizations with various brands were scanned onto the computer screen. Among them, many machines did not have a security system or password protection for access.
Even on Mr. Junaid UR Rehman's computer screen, each printer location can be identified with a detailed satellite map, business name, IP address... If a hacker has bad intentions, the business printer system can be completely attacked.
However, according to this expert, the worrying thing is that in the face of a series of potential risks, especially in the context of modern multi-function printers, printers that can print remotely over the network, have internal memory, web interfaces, etc. being used more and more in businesses, which can become a serious security risk, most businesses and organizations are still only concerned with security policies for computers, "ignoring" and taking lightly security for printers.
“At present, businesses and organizations need to quickly change their awareness and have certain defenses to protect their printing systems from potential attacks,” Mr. Junaid UR Rehman recommended.
For multi-function printers, it is necessary to set up a password protection feature to prevent unauthorized access to the control panel and internal memory; when printing remotely, it is necessary to encrypt the transmission line before accessing; set up a firewall for the system, regularly update firmware support, upgrade security for the machine from the manufacturer...
| Recently, there has been news that a hacker has taken control of more than 160,000 printers connected to the Internet, controlling them to participate in printing ASCII art. The incident is considered a warning to users as well as organizations and businesses when printers can completely become the target of hacker attacks. |
According to Ictnews
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