Unsecured printers can be used to hack confidential data, says HP

Most of us may not realize this but as cyber security threats rise globally, even a non-secure, multi-function printer can fall prey to hackers who can break into an organization’s network to steal confidential information, global PC and printer major HP India said on Tuesday.
According to a survey, 92% companies have reported security breaches leading to financial as well as reputation loss, of which nearly 60% took place due to an unsecure printer on the company’s network.
“The importance is of upgrading a printer’s firmware on regular intervals, lack of which can lead to a hack in its system code and compromise it in accepting malicious lines of code. That code can then be used by the hacker to get access to print jobs and to the user’s computer where the print job was initiated,” Raj Kumar Rishi, senior director, printing systems, HP India, told reporters.
The need to include printer security as part of the government policy guidelines and recognize them as a vital network end point is critical to IT managers worldwide.
Keeping these threats in mind, Rishi elaborated on HP’s efforts in developing products and technology that provide secure printing to their customers.
HP now offers various secure features like “HP Sure Start,” “HP Future Smart Firmware,” “HP Jet Advantage Secure” and “Private Print” to prevent exposure of sensitive documents and unauthorized access to printer and print jobs.
The company also has secure “Managed Print Services” through which, it offers secure printers that are pre-configured for security to prevent outside networks from hacking into the printer using the lesser-used ports.