Could your printer be a target for hackers?

Dude, Your Printer Is NOT Going To Catch On Fire.

 

There is a report out by MSNBC that some researchers from Columbia University have demonstrated a “hack” into LaserJet printers and can cause viruses to either exploit the printer as a tool, or to even make it heat up to the point of Burning Fire.

 

Before you buy fire extinguishers for each laser printer — which we Do sell, by the way — realize a couple of things:

 

1) This was done under ideal laboratory conditions by people exclusively working on this, and not by your nephew, Herman, who plays games on his PS3.

2) The LaserJet must be outside a firewall, automatically accept firmware upgrades, and your printer’s enemy must be a doctorate-level code writer who wants to burn down your office.
3) If your network is not protected by any firewall, you deserve to have your printer burst into flames. And if this was known before, don’t you think the US wouldn’t have flamed all the printers in Iran?
4) Don’t panic. The story is unfolding. Let all the facts come out before … you call us to order those fire extinguishers.