By Bill Pytlovany
Could Your Printer Be Spying On You?
In light of the recent revelations about the NSA’s snooping, our good friend Bill P dug into his archives for this post about how printers are designed to help the government catch counterfeiters.–PC Pitstop
The following is a neat piece I wrote over six years ago with help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It provided details on how your printer is designed to help the government catch counterfeiters’. In light of the recent acknowledgement by the government that they will do anything to catch bad guys, I thought it would be a good reminder.
The information below was written in January 2006 so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that more sophisticated methods are now available. Most likely your printer is on your home network and has its own IP address and like your web camera could be hacked. Even Time Magazine’s online tech wrote about researchers who claimed a hacker could remotely set your printer on fire.
I agree with HP that it’s unlikely anyone will set your printer on fire but redirecting your output to anywhere in the world is kids play once access is gained.
This post is excerpted with Bill’s permission from his blog
